Midday Predators
by ReishaTerrin
Summary: AU. Alice C/Bella S. Rated M: Hunted and separated from her pack, Bella Swan and her sister Lillianne stumble into Forks Washington and the life of an future seeing pixy, Vampires, Werewolves, and other supernatural creatures.
1. Preface

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer. I also disclaim any unintentional plagiarism. I'd Like to thank my friend Sam who again as usually helps me in my writing.**

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><p>There's a saying, I don't know who said it exactly, but it goes like this: <em>'No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.' <em>

I used to believe that. If I hadn't, maybe we wouldn't be in this situation. If I had known that, that single act of kindness would lead us to face imminent death, I wouldn't have bothered at all. That's the thing about facing death though, it's going to happen one way or another.

Why prolong the inevitable? Of course we didn't ask for this. We're just a part of some sick game because our lives are unimportant, too small and insignificant to be worth anything. We're just pawns in a hunters game. Seven stages, seven chances to come out alive.

In the end, It won't matter how far I take us or how fast we get there, because we'll never be safe. We don't have a choice either. I don't know how long we've been running, I can't afford to stop and figure it out. The only thing I can do is keep moving, no matter how tired I am or how hungry I am. Because If I stop I'm dead, and if I'm dead, someone might as well server my sister up on a silver platter. I don't know lies ahead of us, I wont lie and pretend that I do either. Why would I spread false hope, only to have it crash down upon us with desperation and disappointment?

There's another saying, sorry, I don't know who said this either, but it goes like this: _'Feeling hopeless and full of despair is just a slower way of being dead.' _

You tell me what that one means, because to me, it mean there is no hope. There is no chance of survival for Lillianne or Isabella Swan.

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><p><strong>This is my first Twilight story, I hope you like it. It bit of a side project away of my Harry Potter "Snakes and Lions" If You've been reading that one you'll <strong>recognize** some of the characters and the alikeness, minus the magic and all. **


	2. How it Began

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer. I also disclaim any unintentional plagiarism. I'd Like to thank my friend Sam who again as usually helps me in my writing.**

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><p>If there were two things I hated more then anything in the world; it was crowded areas and children. So by that logic, how my younger sister Lillianne got me onto a plane without me kicking and screaming, I have no idea. Furthermore, how I agreed to a seat with a little boy behind me; kicking and having a tantrum about being tired or hungry was beyond me.<p>

I never liked flying in the first place, which is highly ironic; if only you knew the story behind that. Truthfully, I just don't like planes and I don't care how safe people say it is to travel. My sister however, she finds it peaceful. You'd never know that she and I were sisters, twins in fact; but we don't look alike apart from the color of our hair. Hers is longer and better kept than mine. Our eyes are different too; her eyes shine like sapphires whereas mine are a warm chocolate color.

She was dressed in her favorite white laced top and jeans, her jacket as her carry-on item. I was dressed in my white sleeveless eyelet lace, with blue jeans. My parka as mine. Instead of remaining in our apartment in Phoenix, where its sunny with seventy degree weather and perfect cloudless blue skies; we were headed to some backwater town in Washington called Forks. Where it's constantly cloaked with gray skies and drenched with rain. We'd been there before, a long time ago when we were younger. I didn't like it because I don't like cold weather, but at this point I guess it the last place anyone would think to look for us.

That's right, my sister and I were on the run. I'm not saying we're runaways or anything, we're too old for that. Were older than the man two rows in front of me, and I mean actually he's balding; but that comes later.

I can't help but laugh at our situation, even though it's all my fault. If I hadn't been so stupid none of this would of happened. Though, with my luck I guess it was bound to happen. I just wish Lillianne and the others hadn't gotten dragged into my mistake. I feel so lost without them, our friends, our family, our pack, clan, whatever you wanna call us. I miss them all.

I know Lillianne misses them as well, she hasn't spoken since this whole thing began. Just the occasional nod or shake of the head. For all we knew, they were dead, or caught. And no matter how hard I tried, we were too. I remember it all so clearly, when this hell began.

It all started three months ago, June 12th to be precise;

_It was oddly cold that morning, not that I had minded with the extra warmth in my bed. There had been a storm the previous night and Lillianne had crawled into my bed out of fright. She was always like that when it came to storms. Again; I didn't mind. _

_I had been sleeping peacefully after a late night of working, when I woke to the sound of loud banging, followed by the shrill voice of our Landlady. _

_That landlady could be a real witch when she wanted to be, and she always did. I'd struggled out from under the covers and looked at the clock, it had been two-forty eight in the morning. Of course, she couldn't have waited for later time like a normal person. _

_I was still in my pajamas when I answered the old crow, she was true to custom, the first thing she greeted me with was an angry; _

"_Why the hell do you always take so long to answer!" It sounded like it should have been a question, but she never asked anything. "I'm here for the rent you owe me."_

"_I still have a week." I told her. She and I both knew exactly how much time I had to make the payment. She just loved trying to get it early since she knew I made just enough to get by, there was now way I really couldn't afford anything fun if I wanted to keep the apartment._

"_I don't care, I want what I'm owed or you're out on your bum!" She screeched, she was always screeching, it was a wonder she still had a voice. Lillianne had made a comment about that once, she imagined how peaceful the world would be if the landlady couldn't speak. Not hearing her would have been a wish come true, but now, I missed the old bat._

_Anyway, sighing softly, I left her at the door to go and dig out the small store of cash I kept in the cupboard, for just when she felt like collecting early. The scowl, which she'd had on her face since I opened the door, only deepened when I handed her the wad of cash for rent. _

"_Fine. You think you're so smart, but I'll have you out if you don't take out your trash every week! I don't know how you can stand that smell! Everyone on this floor complains to me-" The landlady went on and on, even though we both knew that nobody talked to her more than they had to. There wasn't any smell and there were no complaints, she just felt cheated because she didn't get to see me squirm, or beg for more time on the rent. I let her go on until she was satisfied, I could tell because once she was she turned and walked away. No good morning, no goodbye, just; 'Where's my rent!' and whatever else she could complain about._

"_Rotten old witch…" I muttered, she snapped her head back. For a moment I thought she might have heard me, luckily she didn't. She then vanished down the hall to go and bother some other poor soul at that ungodly hour of the morning._

_I returned to bed, and cuddled back up with Lillianne, she was so warm and in no time I was too. If I was lucky maybe I would've gotten just a few more hours of sleep. _

_Not a second sooner than when I closed my eyes, I woke up to the sound of someone banging on my door again. This time, the sound had a distinct rhythm to it, there was only one person in the world who knocked like that. Shana. I pulled the covers over my head and hoped she would go away. Just a few more hours of sleep, was that too much to ask for? Apparently so…_

"_Bella," Lillianne muttered softly, "there's someone at the door…" It was her way of kindly asking me to get up and answer it. _

"_Don't worry about it, they can come back later." I answered, I felt her nod against my chest and easily return to sleep. I tried to do the same, but after a minute or so I gave up. _

"_Its open!" I shouted, Lillianne groaned in protest. It had grown silent for a moment before I heard the door open and then close. Rolling over, I propped myself up on my elbows, leaned myself back against my wall and took in the familiar surroundings. Our apartment was rather minuscule, it's just big enough to fit two single beds, a desk, a couple sets of dresser drawers; the walls were smudged with dark spots from candles being lit for when Lillianne read late into the night while I was working night shifts. In the back corner a red dresser sat with a little television on top, angled slightly so that it was in direct view of the bed. It didn't work very well and we only got about 3 different channels on it, not that It really bothered me. Neither of us really liked watching television very much. A second dresser sat inside the closet. It's drawers opened and stuffed messily with clothing and school books. I'm not a very tidy person to begin with, Lillianne constantly scolds me about it since her things were always neatly arranged and put away. Beside the first dresser sat a clustered computer desk stacked with a spare comforter and some old movies I liked to watch. There was a printer, but it no longer worked. _

_I glanced over at the alarm clock, the bright red numbers flashed three-fourteen A.M. _

_I groaned. It was too early for my taste, no one else would have been awake, well no one human. I didn't count the Landlady as such. _

"_Rise and shine Isabella," said an high and peppy voice, "it's another day, get up and face it!" With that almost pleasant thought, I began my morning just like I did everyday, by slipping in to a pair of clean jeans, socks, and then my boots, which had melded to the shape of my feet after years of use. Scrounging around the laundry basket, I found a clean shirt and slipped it on before I joined one of my 'sisters' in what I called the kitchen. It wasn't must of a kitchen, was as big as a closet, with a sink and a counter, also there was a refrigerator. Shana was there waiting. _

"_Look what I found," she giggled, and I was met with a food basket hovering in front of my face. When the smell of the freshly baked bread wafted through the room I felt the deep rumble in my stomach. If it weren't for Shana, I'm sure Lillianne and I would have starved along time ago. No, I have to take that back, we would have been fine, we'd just still be stealing our food and clothing. _

_We met Shana, or rather she found us, when I tried to pocket some canned soup as Lillianne and I were passing through Arkansas. She'd offered us a place to stay, introduced us to the rest of the family. Since then we'd always been together. _

_Looking at Shana, I always thought that she was an absurdly small thing, half my size, with dark red hair that was streaked pink. She usually was very peppy and had this warmth and excitement about her, like a child who overreacts to everything. I know some people would find it annoying, especially with how high her voice gets at times, but I found it soothing. _

_I thanked her as she twirled over and planted kiss on my cheek, then disappeared to go wake up Lillianne._

_The bread was still warm and I'd been starving, so I sliced myself an awkwardly large slice with my pocket knife, buttered it up, then took the biggest bite I could out of it. It hadn't fill my stomach like I had hoped, it was getting to be that time… _

"_Shana!" I heard Lillianne squeal, though I could hear the giggle through it. _

"_Rise and Shine Lilli, ooh are those lacey? When did you get to be so kinky?" I remember I could almost feel the blush crept onto my sisters face as she'd noisily denied Shana's insinuations. It was almost four'o'clock then. _

_The rest of the basket had some cheese, I'd packed that into my bag along with some bread to eat while at work. There was also some crackers, apples, eggs, and milk, all of which went into the fridge. They came in while I was putting my bread away for lunch._

_Lillianne had dressed comfortably; a black t-shirt with Tinker Bell on the front and a skirt. Now that I think of it, Shana had been dressed in... barely anything, her shirt showed most of her smooth belly and her skirt showed a lot of her ass. She was as good as naked in those clothes! Aside from that, the both of them had been ready for school, where I got I ready for work. I guess it was weird that I was "18", as far as humans knew, and not in school, but I had "dropped" out when I was "16" and got a job working with my older "sister" Alison. _

_Shana and Lillianne had continued with the schooling even though it wasn't necessary; Lillianne just liked to be around other people and Shana loved school in general. The two of them grabbed their choice of food bags and chattered about the projects that were due before the year ended. Honestly, nothing was worth repeating high school in my opinion. Lillianne had a light breakfast of a simple cheese sandwich, by the look on her face, I'd say it filled her as much as it did me. I decided at that point that we'd have to do something about it by the end of the week._

_Normally, we'd have still been asleep at that time, but Shana didn't come over every day. Even though I remember I was dying to go back to the comfort of bed, the three of us chatted for a good hour before we all piled into the car and I dropped them off at school. I watched as the both of them disappeared into a crowd of friends. I glared at the way the boys eye humped Lillianne. Disgusting. It wasn't as if she liked anyone of them either. She'd stopped and waved me off as usually before I took my leave for work. _

_It had all seemed like an average day as I drove the fifteen minutes between the school and my job. I worked at a small diner owned by a kind elderly couple. Alison had introduced me to them and helped me get the job there. _

_When I pulled up I saw Alison setting up through the windows. I parked and watched her for a moment before I climbed out of my car and heading towards the diner. I noticed, however, a figure standing outside the door. I couldn't make out their face, only that they dressed heavily and kept themselves concealed. When I approached they staggered off into the alley, so I'd shrugged it off as nothing, maybe just a drunk since there was a pub not too far from the diner._

"_Do my eyes deceive me? Isabella Swan, coming to work…early?" A female voice teased when I walked in, my only response had been to roll my eyes. _

_Alison was by far one of the three most beautiful women I knew. She was the definition of gorgeous! I mean damn! Her looks alone drew in longing stares from both men and women, along with hateful glares from the latter wherever she went. She was tall, thin, well defined with an almost elegant appearance. She was several inches taller than my 5'6 maybe 5'7, she could even have been as tall as 6'. Her hair was long, though not as long as Lillianne's, but it was a light brunette color that framed her face beautifully. Her eyes took on a light hazelnut shade, speckled with green if under the right light. _

_I'd kill to look as good as her or to have her body for that matter! It was well shaped, perfect curves in all the right places, with a fair creamy carmel colored skin tone that usually had all the boys drooling. I drooled looking at her and she was my sister. _

_Okay so none of us are related, except Lillianne and myself, but still, it would have been weird if I'd suddenly said; "Hey, Alison, I have a thing for girls, oh and I'm hot for you, wanna shag?" No doubt she'd have found it little odd. Not that it would have mattered, most of our group are into women, even Lillianne. I think that was the reason we were all a group. Plus she was "married". _

"_Earth to Miss Swan, you're as bad as the boys, you're especially as bad Shianne," she said, it had been followed by a dazzling smile, her trademark bait for customers. _

"_Sorry…" I muttered. Her answer had been to shake her head and kiss my forehead. "And its Bella, you know that." She'd winked as she went off into the back, we didn't open for another hour. I decided I would finish, what I had to call a breakfast meal. Normally the food would have been filling, but that time it wasn't. That's not saying it wasn't good or there wasn't enough, it was just because of what I am, it wasn't enough to fill me. _

_Alison had noticed, I guess I had that look on my face after I ate. _

"_You know, I can make a call if you're hungry." She'd said softly, I shook my head. _

"_I'll wait till after Lillianne gets home. I'll be fine." I smiled, the meal had helped, at least a little. _

_The hour quickly passed, business started as usual. It wasn't any grand. The day progressed as it did everyday. I'd waited the tables as I always did, tending to the same familiar faces I always saw, there was of course new faces too, families on vacation who were merely passing by. That had been one thing I liked about working there, I either met new people or saw old people I knew well enough to know what they wanted without even asking. _

_That morning was odd, I had I received an unusual amount phone numbers from males, who usually only had eyes for Alison. When I'd asked if they were meant for her they had either said no, or that it was for the both of us._

_Aside from the numbers, which I never kept because I had no interest in those men, the other strange thing was the return of that strange figure from before. As the hours went on, I'd served a few of the familiar customers and stopped to chat with them between orders, but every time I looked up I would catch the figure retreating form from the edge of the window. I thought it was really was eerie as the day went on. By the time lunch hour came the only thing I'd found out was that the figure was a woman. Alison and I ate lunch in the back during our lunch break, I'd asked her if she'd ever seen that mystery woman who kept lurking around._

"_Don't get involved with her Bella." Was all Alison had said. She'd seemed irritated at the time and said that she'd also see her lurking about. She seemed uneasy. Thinking about it now, after what happened, that might actually have been fear she was showing. The woman's presence didn't seem to bother the owners and they had told Alison that they really couldn't do much unless she came inside and started something. _

"_It's just weird." I muttered, grimly picking at my lunch. I was starving, I needed to eat fast and the food in front of me hadn't been exactly what I had in mind. "Do you think she's hungry? Maybe she doesn't have any money." _

"_I don't know Bella. Its not really our place unless she comes in. Don't get involved, don't think about her anymore okay? I'm going to call Sheridan, get you something to eat, okay? You're looking a little sick." Alison said as she picked our plates up. The flash of the woman's jacket caught my vision as I'd agreed to Alison's suggestion. For the first time that day, I had a clear view of her because the hood of her jacket had been pulled down. She had been extremely pale, her cheeks thin and hollow, her hair had been curly and long, a fiery color. To me, she still seemed very beautiful, there was just something about her... a helpless quality. _

_My cell phone had gone off just as she gave me a weak smile. _

"_Hello?" I'd torn my gaze from the woman in answering my phone. _

"_Bella? Can you come get me?" It was Lillianne, her voice had sounded strained. I didn't have to ask to know what was wrong, I had been feeling it myself. _

"_Yeah, I'll be right there. Wait for me out front." After the phone call I had gone to tell Alison where I was going, but she'd guessed and had my keys ready for me. _

_I exited out the back, because I knew I would encounter the woman out front otherwise. I mean I had no time for anything aside from getting to Lillianne. _

_As I was pulled away I noticed a second figure had joined the woman, a blonde male. I hadn't seen much of him though, I'd brushed them off as I rushed back to the school. Lillianne was waiting just like I told her, she looked pretty pale, but I probably looked similar at that point; I doubt either of us would have lasted the week. _

"_I'm hungry." She'd said meekly as she entered the car. She looked like she hadn't slept in days with the dark circles under her eyes. _

"_We'll get something to eat now, Alison said she was going to call Sheridan." I'd assured her like I did every few weeks, she hadn't been too thrilled since she and Sheridan didn't really get along, but she had no alternative then. _

_The ride back to work was short and silent, we'd entered the same way I'd left. I'd thought about Sheridan along the way._

_Sheridan, she's the most beautiful one out of the family, Alison is easily second, third would be Shianne. She has a toned, muscular body and a feral quality about her that excited people when she was around. Her skin is beautifully dark while her eyes are an unusual color, a mix of sapphire and violet. Her hair is long, the closest to Lillianne's length, but it's darker. Like Shana's it's streaked, but streaked with blue highlights. If I had to describe her appearance, it would be beautiful and deadly. She just had that look. She was taller than me too, hell she was taller than Alison. Men drooled over her. It helped that she was french also, because she had that accent that wasn't overly thick but it was just... _

_I was drooling again. _

"_Miss swan, I do believe you need a bucket." Alison had teased as we came in, motioning Lillianne towards the back as a couple of guys came in. I'd stayed outside to wait on them, as I'd approached the two I heard the typical whispers about Allison's ass._

"_Hey, how are you today? Can I get you something to start with? Something to drink?" I was as friendly as I could be. Both had looked up and their faces had turned red faster than the worst sunburn I'd ever seen. There was some stammering and it took them a moment before they could regain themselves to ordered a couple of sodas. I'd left to go get them after they'd given me their numbers. I picked up a few other orders along the way. Lillianne had come out of the back, looking better and energetic by the time I'd gotten back to the counter. She was literally glowing and I'd smiled as she'd offered to take my orders while I ate._

_I made my way to the back where my second eldest sister was, talking to Alison. Unlike Alison and Lillianne, I didn't speak french well enough to follow their conversations, so I had no idea what they were saying, although Sheridan smiled when I had approached. _

"_Bonjour, Isabella." I'd felt my eyes glaze over at her greeting and dazzlingly, bright smile. "'ungry?" I'd nodded. _

_It's safe to say that our 'family' isn't exactly…normal. Sheridan, is the oldest so she took responsibility of… feeding Lillianne and I. "Well zen, come over 'ere." she'd motioned for me to come over and I'd complied. My cheeks flushed as she'd touched my face, as they always have when she, Alison, or Shianne touched them. Her lips had twitched as if fighting a smile. She'd led me into the kitchenette we had in the back._

_I don't remember how long we had been back there, but Alison came in after a while. She was probably wondering what was taking so long and embarrassingly she'd caught me in Sheridan's arms and our lips mashed together. She had nearly kicked us apart before ordering me back to work, at the same time scolding me for letting Lillianne take my tables. _

_Lillianne hung out for the rest of day as I'd worked, chatting with myself or Alison until it grew dark. More of our regulars had shown up as evening came. Sheridan at some point left to join Shianne at work. They worked in a pub around the corner. Alison and I had been asked to work the night shift, which were usually slow, so it had surprised me when I heard the bell jingle._

_It was the woman. _

_She'd taken a corner table and I had no choice but to go wait on her, since Alison had been dealing with a difficult customer. _

_It had felt like something was wrong as I'd approached her, in hindsight I should have followed that instinct. I remember that I caught the most delicious smell as I got closer, I couldn't place what it was because it seemed to be an mixture of several scents, maybe that's why I'd kept going closer. She'd Looked up as I approached smiling shyly with folded hands in her lap. _

"_h-hi…" her smile had been so alluring I hadn't been able talk straight. "C-can I get you something to start with?" She'd looked over the menu and frowned. _

"_Just some water. Thank you." Her voice was gorgeous. My god I wanted to hear more of it. I remember arching an brow, thinking that she looked like she could use a meal, but just water? I'd nodded and headed back towards the kitchen. Poking my head through the little window I'd told the cook to make the special, which had been some Beef Stew that night, sure it was almost at its throw out time because of the extra that was always made, but it was still better than just water. It hadn't taken long, thanks to the slow orders and I'd delivered it to the table as soon as it came out._

"_What is this?" She'd looked puzzled, stopping me as I had turned to leave. _

"_It's on the house." I shrugged, she'd given me a thankful smile as I left her to her meal. _

"_From whom? Might I ask?" She asked as I was halfway back to the counter. _

"_Sorry, it's anonymous…" She'd smiled again. _

"_Would you mind joining me?" the question had been more of a purr, unfortunately, before my had brain registered what was happening I found myself sitting across from her. "Thank you. What's a pretty young thing like yourself working here for?" She had asked as she stirred her spoon in the stew. _

"_I need the money." _

"_You're a little young to be working, don't you go to school?" _

"_No I don't. My sister does." That was just the beginning of one the many stupid mistakes I'd didn't know I was going to be making. No matter what she asked, I found myself answering before I could think about it. _

"_The other one, at the counter?" She asked as she nodded her head to where Lillianne had been doing her homework. "What's her name?" _

"_Lillianne." The answer had been automatic. _

"_Beautiful, and yours?" She'd been purring again, my god she was enticing. _

"_I-it's I-Isabella… I-I prefer B-Bella…" I'd been reduced to a stammering idiot! She gave a soft musical laugh. _

"_It's very nice to meet you Isabella, My name is Victoria." She'd replied. _

_Victoria and I had talked for an hour or so, mostly about my family and myself. She'd asked me to introduce her to Lillianne, which I'd done as soon as she said it. She had seemed to have the same effect on her as she had on me, only Lillianne wasn't as discreet about it. She'd asked me why I didn't go to school, if Lillianne and I lived close by, how many of us were in the family, anything like that and so on. I'd noticed that she never once touched her food our entire conversation, against my better judgment, I ignored it. Another hour had passed before Alison came and told Victoria we were closing, to which she had gracefully exited. I thought it was weird that she hadn't eaten the meal, but maybe she wasn't as hungry as I had thought. _

_Lillianne helped as we closed, wiping down the tables and taking away any spare dishes as I counted the money collected of the day. The store owner came in, paid us and then left as if they never existed. Polite all the way though. We sad good night, locked up, and met up with the others just outside. Alison asked if we wanted to join them at the pub for a drink once we were finished, but we declined. I was tired, plus frankly, it was late and Lillianne had school in the morning. _

_Alison kissed us both, before we watched her leave with Shianne and rest of them. I'd watched them drive out of sight before heading towards my car, where Lillianne had already gotten in. Before I opened the door though, a sound had drawn my attention._

_"Get away you freak!" It was Victoria. She was running out of the alleyway as if someone were after her. I don't remember why, but I'd locked the doors and ran to help her, leaving a confused Lillianne in the car. Just as Victoria cleared the alley, I'd jumped into the way even though I had no idea what good it'd do. Shouting some kind of threat as the person came into the light. It'd been a surprise to see that it was the blonde man who I had seen watching the diner earlier that day, but even more of a surprise when he stopped just short of the alley entrance. He'd looked me up and down before turning and running away, as if my being there changed things a great deal. I hadn't thought too much of it then because Victoria was sobbing and shaking, saying how the man had wanted something from her and he'd kept following her when she had left the diner. _

_She'd thanked me over a dozen times in five minutes, during which Lillianne had come over to see what'd happened. Victoria and Lillianne had a brief chat, before Victoria was back to trying to control her shaking, worried that the man be would back. Of course I'd offered to drive her home, but she wouldn't have it and just asked if we would wait until she calmed down before leaving, which we did. I'd remembered that we had a water bottle in the car, so Lillianne and I'd both gone to get it for her, but she was gone when we returned and had been nowhere in sight. We had both searched around for a while, but couldn't find any trace of her so we could do nothing but go home._

_I'd taken the drive home slowly, chatting with Lillianne and hoping that Victoria had gotten a head start home, or that I would catch up with her with any luck. The conversation had mostly been about how Lillianne despised Sheridan, which was funny since I adored her. _

"_I don't care. Just because she's the oldest she thinks she's in charge. Its infuriating, not to mention she has a smug attitude, she's rude, reckless, she's-"_

"_She's paying for your schooling,"_ _I cut her off, but she continued grumbling._

"_Well yes… That's true. But I'll be graduating soon, then what? What'll her excuse be then?" _

"_You know, they say when two people argue, they're attracted to one another." I teased, she made a gagging sound before she giggled at the idea. That was the last time I'd heard her giggle, because I hit something right after. My head jerked forwards as I hit the dash board. What good was a car if the damn airbags didn't work? Even though my head had been throbbing, my only thought had been to look if Lillianne was okay. She was, sure she had been shaken up, but otherwise she was alright. I got out of the car to inspect the damage I'd no doubt be paying for, for the rest of the year._

_It looked like I'd hit an invisible pole, in the middle of the road. The front of my car had been completely totaled around where a pole should have been. Which in ever sense was impossible. I didn't understand. Suddenly, the groaning sound of metal bending and electricity crackling, filled the air as I had moved around to the front of the car. Lillianne's horrified screaming made me panic, from where I could see she thrashing around through the cracked windshield. _

_"Bella!"__she screamed, but the sound had faded as I'd rushed around to her side of the car. I'd tried to chase her but something stopped me, a strong grip around my neck. The last thing I remembered was the sound of something cracking, soulless red eyes with a violent smile as my vision faded. _

_When I woke up, the first sound I could make had been a groan and a male's voice had greeted me._

"_Oh ho, she's awake!" I would have liked to have thought the voice was attractive, but it wasn't. Something about it was eerie, frightening. I had noticed right off that we were in a warehouse and that it hurt just to breathe, but what scared me the most was that Lillianne had been nowhere in sight. _

"_Don't worry, she's fine." The male voice spoke said again, somehow knowing my worry._

"_Well, well, Isabella Swan. Quite the mess you've gotten yourself into." He stepped forward so I could get a clear view of him. He was young, blond hair tied in a pony tail. Ironically, he'd been without a shirt. He looked like he'd been caved out of stone, he'd looked flawless. What had really drawn my attention had been the color of his eyes, they were red, cold and lifeless. We were in trouble._

"_W-who are you? Where's my sister?!" I shouted, he smiled walking an full circle around me. _

"_Names, are they really… relevant?" He asked, receiving no answer he continued. "James. You can call me James, Isabella Swan. You know, it's been a while since I smelled blood as delicious as yours. But, there something different about it… Something special." He had such an innocent face, it was creepy. "The last one … slipped through my fingers… I was young, stupid… I wont make the same mistake. We're going to play a little game. Do you like games Isabella?"_

"_Games? Are you insane? Where is she!?" The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them. Which was a mistake, because he'd taken his foot and stomp onto my arm. I'd screamed feeling something crack. _

"_I just think I might be Miss Swan." James smirked. I groaned, my arm throbbing from where he had stomped. I had been pretty sure it was broken. _

"_Now, let me explain how this works." James crouched down and tilted my head up with two fingers so that I met his eyes. His touch had been so cold, it was almost icy. "See, aside from my mate and myself… there are 7 total of us. I'm sure you'll come to find that out soon enough. Each of us just loves to hunt and humans like you? well, you're the best kind of meat sacks for the hunt." _

"_W-why us?" _

_He'd given a disgustingly smug smile and cooed, "Because baby, you were stupid enough to think you could help poor 'defenseless' Victoria." As he's said it, she'd appeared as if on cue, uninjured, unafraid. Basically? She was very predatory. She approached, with Lillianne struggling in her grip, before the two of them shared a deep, lustful kiss. _

"_Such dimwitted creatures humans are. The second they see a pretty face they'll believe anything she says." She purred._

_Humans? What's did she mean by that? What was more, was that they had believed that Lillianne and I were such. _

_Victoria smiled sweetly as she'd tilted Lillianne's face towards her, pressing her lips to the pulsing point on her neck, she moaned. _

"_She smells divine James… can't I have a taste?" She purred, the red of her eyes had locked on to mine as she asked. _

"_Of course my sweet, but wait just one moment." James cooed back. "Tell me, Isabella Swan. What do you think we are? _

"_Criminally insane." I answered quickly, James threw his head back and laughed, amused with my choice of words. _

"_Oh ho! Ding, Ding! Wrong answer!" There was a sudden pain in my pinky finger as felt the digit snap. His cold hand clamped over my mouth as I'd screamed. "You my sweet are correct, but sadly not the answer I was looking. Try again." I had to think carefully, because I knew If I'd been wrong I would be hurt, or they'd do something to Lillianne. _

"_What about you sweetheart? Victoria cooed into Lillianne's neck, who shook her head, too afraid to say anything. "Think about it… pale skin, cold bodies," she inhaled deeply, and moaned again. "With a thirst for the blood pumping in your veins…"_

_It clicked, like a light switch..._

"_No…" I whispered, my eyes had widened and I remember my heartbeat had quickened. _

"_Yes… say it." James said, he kept encouraging as I struggled to believe it. _

_I'd thought it wasn't possible. It couldn't' have.. shouldn't have. But by that logic we should have either. _

"_Say it baby." Victoria whispered, "What. Are. We?"_

"_V...V… Vam-" I stammered, but it had been enough for them. _

"_Vampires…" James finished the sentence, just the word had made me whimper. I couldn't understand how I could have been so fucking stupid! The pale icy-cold skin, red eyes, no doubt they had no heartbeat. I was so stupid! Vampires! Of course they existed! We existed for gods sake!_

_They laughed. God it was the most horrifying sound I'd ever heard._

"_Ding, Ding! You are correct!" James clapped enthusiastically. "Now that you know what we are. We can begi-" _

"_James!" Victoria growled, his attention drawn to his mate. _

"_Oh alright," James sighed, moving away from me. I had painful staggered to my feet. I don't know why I thought I had a chance, but I'd rushed towards Victoria for Lillianne. I'd gotten about three steps before James suddenly appeared before me. He sent me careening backwards into several crates with the back of his stone like hand. _

"_Bella!" Lillianne screamed and I'd staggered to my feet again. My head was throbbing, I felt the blood rushing to my brain, my vision was blurred, but I remember catching the image of Victoria withdrawing from Lilliannes neck. _

_Lillianne hit the ground with a sickening thud. Within seconds she'd started to scream. _

"_That's right sweetheart! Scream! No one for miles will hear you!" James laughed, amused as my sister writhed in agony. She cried out my name repeatedly, but when I tried again to reach her the back of his hand sent me backwards again. I'd lost my breath when I slammed against the ground that time, he was suddenly at my side and his cold hands had forced me to watch Lillianne suffer._

"_Victoria…" James warned after a moment, she'd given him a pout before she pressed her mouth back to my sister's neck, and her pain seemed to fade until she stopped screaming._

"_Leave her alone! Please!" I'd begged, but it was useless. _

"_What fun would that be?" James had asked innocently. "The more the merrier. Now you see Isabella… to make things fair. Victoria and I will have to return to the others… so as… we don't have a head start. You have a week, to get as far away as possible. Before we come for you, or the rest of your family who by now, have probably already had this little meeting with their captors. Oh the plus side; if you can evade us for . . . lets say . . . another week. Then I personally will let you go. I can't speak for the others, but we," he motioned between Victoria and himself, "will not hunt either of you. If we catch you, we get to drag you back to our cozy little place, where we will torture you for another week before you get to start over. Deal?" _

_Deal? Who the fuck would ever had agreed to that? And then it hit me. The others… I'd single handedly endangered my family. When I didn't answer, James had became impatient and he'd bit into my shoulder. I'd screamed. The pain numbed quickly though, like the feeling you'd get when your foot went to sleep, or when your dentist numbed your mouth._

_My shoulder tingled and got warmer, then hotter before it began to burn. The burning sensation coursed through my shoulder, spreading down my arm into my fingers. My skin felt like it was on fire, a fire that soon had gone into my bones. It was agonizing. Everything had hurt, even my hair somehow. I screamed and writhed, begging them to make the burning stop. I'd begged them to kill me as I struggled against the ground, it was after what felt like an eternity when someone had taken pity on me. I felt something cold pressing against my shoulder, sucking and eventually the pain slowly stopped._

_I remember seeing James and Victoria standing above me, they were smiling as my world faded. _

That was how it had started. I'd woken up the next day in blood, sweat, and tears. My arm had been broken, along with my finger, my head throbbed and my shoulder ached. Lillianne had been laid out a few inches from me. She'd had minor bruises and a bite mark on her neck, but after all that had happened, that could be considered lucky.

I don't remember how we managed it, but we made it back to our apartment and packed what we could. I'd tried to contact the rest of our family, but it looked like James had been telling the truth. They were gone. We spent the next three days selling what we didn't need, I'd pulled Lillianne out of school, along with Shana, even though I had no idea where she was. Questions were asked, but I didn't have the answers. So we had to leave before people suspected too much.

The last three months were hellish. It didn't matter how fast we were going or where, they'd always caught us. As if they knew what steps we were going to make before we did. When they caught us, they would torture us, always separately.

Victoria loved to beat and bruise Lillianne, she used things that would leave marks, she'd cut into her just to watch her bleed or try to stop the bleeding. When the wound was nearly healed she would reopen it, or she'd stab her and leave what ever she'd use in the wound for hours or days. She did this so that the injury would remain by the next time they'd catch us.

James loved breaking me with beatings, insults, or worst. He would break something just to hear me scream, he would bite me just for the rush before he'd suck the venom out. He enjoyed hearing me beg and scream as they tortured Lillianne, because I was too weak to stop it. He's broken my arms twice, dislocated my shoulder several times, snapped my wrists more times then I can count, but he never does the legs, I'd be too easy to catch if he did.

And when the week was up they'd let us go to start all over again. Eventually I didn't care what happened to me anymore, but I continued for Lilliannes sake.

She had an idea one day after we had been "released" into an alleyway. We had then rushed to the nearest airport, bought the cheapest plane tickets to anywhere, then we boarded.

That's how I ended up on this plane, heading to Fork's Washington.

We've only been flying for about an hour, maybe less and I was beginning to sweat. I stared silently at the row of seats in front of me and beside me, before I finally looked behind me when I felt my seat being kicked again. There were too many people on this plane, assuming they were people at all. We could no longer trust the people around us. After an four hour flight to Seattle, we got something eat, then boarded the next flight, which was about another hour on an even smaller plane up to a place called Port Angeles, there we took the bus, which had been yet another hour, down to Forks. I'd felt so stiff after all that time sitting, It felt good to stretch once were on our feet again. It was raining when we'd left Port Angeles, and it had increased as we got to Forks. Not a bad omen or anything just unavoidable, the fact we didn't have a place to stay was going to be a problem. What I wouldn't do for a hot shower and a warm bed right about now.

Fork Washington, population of three thousand one hundred and twenty- er twenty-two residents reside in this town. its constantly cloaked with gray skies and drenched with rain. I hate cold and wet weather, anything like that is hell to me. But what choice do I have? We have a week before the game 'resets' again. Soon James and Victoria would come for us. We had a week to worry about that though, the bigger issue right now was the fact we needed a place to stay, but worst we needed to eat.

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><p><em><strong>Just an update: 131/2015**_


	3. Welcome to Forks

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer. I also disclaim any unintentional plagiarism. The only thing I do own are characters Lillianne, Shana, Shianne, Sheridan, and Alison. I'd Like to thank my friend Sam who again as usually helps me in my writing. **

**Note: Since were are still at the very beginning, there will be chapters where Bella and or Lillianne depending on the POV, will be having a Flashback or Memory as I've done in this chapter. So please bear with me until we've meet the Cullen's.**

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><p>Forks Washington. It'd been a while since we were last here, and in all honesty, I never thought we'd ever be back. Not for a long time anyways. As far as I could see, I can't really say much has changed. Everything was still cold and wet from the constant raining, something that wasn't going to change anytime soon if the heavy rain clouds looming overhead were any indication. Just looking at the clouds made me shiver; I hate the rain, I hated anything cold and wet, and that makes Forks the closest thing to a personal hell for me. Every part of me wanted to be anywhere else, but I couldn't think about my own comfort right now. I sighed, we'd been here all of thirty minutes and I was already miserable, but considering what we've been through in the last few months, I could handle a little wet weather. More importantly, we had to figure out where we were going to stay for the short time we'd be here.<p>

Taking the meager bags that Lillianne and I had, we joined the line as we'd disembark the bus and another to be cleared by security. The man there smiled, welcoming us to enjoy our stay as he'd handed us our bags.

"Seventy-eight bucks," I said, pocketing a small wad of bills once we were situated. We didn't have enough for more than a few days in a hotel, and while we could try to sleep at the bus station, I didn't want to risk it. I wasn't sure how we were going to pull this off, but I wasn't going to give up after everything we've been through. "As long as we're here, we might as well have a look around," I didn't really mean it since the town probably had nothing to offer, but it was something to do while I worked out our next step.

Taking Lillianne's hand in mine, we stepped out of the station and took our first steps into Forks after so many years. We ended up wandering around for a good half-hour, and it felt as though we'd seen everything this town had to offer. There never was anything to do, and that hadn't changed since the last time we were here. There was no luck finding a place to stay either, between rents being too high or landlords being suspicious about us, we were always turned down. And when we'd looked into the few places we'd found offering rooms, it turned out to be a waste time because we only wanted to stay a week instead of signing a year-long lease. I didn't want to admit it out loud, but we were really screwed; When the hell were things going to go our way? How the hell were things going to get worst?

My stomach rumbled.

I stopped with a heavy sigh. Of course. This was just the perfect spice to add to this dish of misery and abuse. It had been at least two week since we had last 'eaten.' The last time had been a disaster. Still, we were pushing our luck, and it was really kicking our asses. I think I could manage a few more days even as hungry as I was, but Lillianne was the one who really needed something eat. Even if she doesn't show it, I know she's barely hanging on, and things would only get messy unless she had something to eat soon.

About an hour later, after confirming that the town had nothing to offer us, I spotted a small hamburger joint across the street and tugged Lillianne over. Once we got inside, I sat her down at a table and glanced down at the menu. I cringed a little at the prices before forcing myself to get the cheapest item, French Fries, to stave off the hunger. Almost immediately after taking my order, the waiter came back with a large plate of fries and two glasses of water, banging each of them down a little too roughly before leaving without a word.

"Hungry?" I asked, pushing the plate towards Lillianne. The blank look she'd given made me feel stupid for asking. Of course she was, we both were. Maybe I'd asked because a small part of me hoped she would break the silent treatment she'd been giving me lately. But instead, she nodded without a word before she took a few of our fries and nibbled on them. "You're going to have to start talking sooner or later. Trying to figure out what you mean from a few nods and head shakes is getting old, I'm not a mind reader," I said. I drank from the free glass of water as she looked up at me through her eyelashes. "I don't know how we're going to keep going without some sort of communication," I paused and took a breath. I was never good at speaking, not that the situation was helping any. I sighed. "Look, you have every right to be angry at me. I admit it, this is all my fault. Just… don't do this to me," I'd given her a pleading look while she stared back, dumbfounded.

"I-I'm not angry with you Bella… why would you even begin to think this was your fault?" she asked, her voice was a low whisper.

"You haven't spoken to me in weeks," I whispered back sullenly. Looking down at the fries between us; they didn't seem appetizing anymore. "I'm sorry Lilli, It's my fault we're in this mess…" I said. I didn't even dare to look at her. She didn't say anything, and that only made me feel worst, she knew it was true. With nothing else to do, I reluctantly popped another fry into my mouth; a quiet Lillianne wasn't such a bad thing anymore.

I sighed and I tried to clear my head, I needed to focus on what we needed now, not the things that I couldn't do anything about. That brought me back to problem number one, we needed a place to stay. I tilted my cup back to drink the last of my water, when a fuzzy blob caught my eye through the clear bottom. Lowering my hand, I realized the blob was the magnified newspaper at an elderly couple's table. Why didn't I think of it before? Classifieds, they might have cheap places listed and it'd save us a lot of searching.

"Hey, I'll be right back," I said. Lillianne nodded. Hoping for the best, I stood and made my way over to the chatting couple.

"Excuse me?" I asked softly, drawing their attention away from their conversation. The elderly woman looked up and had given me a kind smile, not a sadistic one, but one with genuine care. It had been so long since anyone had shown me any compassion, that it had left me speechless for a moment. The man was less friendly, but he was courteous as he waited for me to state my business.

"I was wondering if I could take a look at your paper. If you're finished with it?" I asked politely, the thought of them saying 'no' just occurring to me.

"By all means, go on and take it," said the woman as she cheerfully handed it to me. Taking it with relief, I gave her a small smile before retreating back to our table, where Lillianne had taken to staring out the window. I decided against asking if she were okay, and started flipping through the paper instead. It didn't take long too scan the ads, and what was there didn't make our situation any better. There were no rooms or apartments in our price range, and no jobs that I could take to change that. Frustrated, I repeatedly thumped my head against the table, as if it would make the problems go away.

"Bella… don't do that. You're going to bruise your forehead," Lillianne said softly, deciding to voice her opinion. I knew she was right and I could already feel the bruise forming, but the pain meant that I wasn't thinking about the shit situation we were in, and focused solely on my forming headache. When I didn't stop, I heard Lillianne sigh as she left me to it.

I tried to think about our situation, well, mainly I tried to think about how Alison or better, how Sheridan would have handled with the situations if she were here. Sheridan's a leader, though I don't think its by choice, its just always been that way since she took us in. But if she were here, we'd be fed, and well, I doubt vampires would get the better of her. Alison's told me stories about when she first met Sheridan, she's told me the things she can do, her strengths, but I've never seen her do any of it. I've seen her fight, she and Shianne would spend the weekends together training, for what I never knew, but occasionally Lillianne and I would tag along. Shianne was strong too, but I had a suspicion that Sheridan had been at it a lot longer. She was just… stronger. Sometimes, she would even take on both Alison and Shianne at once.

If James and Victoria had taken her, I doubt this game would have lasted longer then a week. Thinking about it now, I wish I hadn't declined her offer of lessons on fighting, it would have been useful, but I'm not a fighter… I never have been, I'm way too uncoordinated.

I don't know when it happened, but suddenly the impacts of my head against the table had softened. The pain was dull and I wondered if I was getting used to having my head knocked around. Someone chuckled, and then I heard their voice.

"Better?" Said the voice. When I looked up, I saw a boy standing in front of our table, a wide smile spread across his face. "Hi there," he greeted cheerfully with a small wave. He looked like he could have been my age, well the age I looked like, and just as tall. He wore a long jacket, and his short blonde hair was spiked with too much gel. His face was baby-like and his light blue eyes seemed to glow as he waited for a response. He was really kind of cute, but the way he was looking at me made me suspicious.

"Thanks," I mumbled, resting my chin on the palm of my hand so I could keep an eye on him. He only smiled.

"Hi, I'm Mike, Mike Newton," he introduced himself, even though we hadn't asked. It didn't look like he was going to leave anytime soon. Great.

"Hello Mike. I'm Bella, and this is my sister Lillianne," I answered. I didn't want to come off as rude, so I said it as kindly as I could. He'd given Lillianne the same smile he'd given me and she managed a shy one back. I guess he took that as an invitation, because he sat himself down beside her. Lillianne shifted towards me uncomfortably and I found myself grinding my teeth warily. I wasn't sure what it was, but something about him rubbed me the wrong way, and that feeling only got worse when he got closer to my sister. I took another look at him, he seemed harmless; he was pale but not that I'm-dead-so-I-wanna-eat-you kind of pale, plus his eyes were blue which meant he wasn't that kind of pale.

"I've never seen you around here before, so you must be new," he said. I guess new people were a rare thing for this town. He wasn't the first one to stare, just the first to come out and say anything. "Are you here camping?" he tried again when I didn't answer. While it had been a nosy question, it'd made me think. I hated camping almost as much as I did the cold and wet weather. Also, it's dirty and required skills that I didn't have, like fishing, foraging, and setting up tents. Not to mention it was too far from other people.

'_**You make it sound like it's a bad thing to be TOO far from other people.' **_the little voice in the back of my head chimed as I mentally read off the list of why I didn't like camping.

I blinked. "Great not you too…" I mentally scowled. The voice just huffed.

'_**Camping… TOO far from other people… sure that's a terrible idea Bella… Being TOO far from people while Vampires want to hunt and kill you any day now…'**_

I sighed. You know, they say when you hear a voice in the back of your head, you've gone crazy. Maybe this whole situation was doing just that to me, if I was even considering… camping?

_**Ding! **_The little light bulb in my head flickered on and the voice snorted.

"Camping?" I asked. Lillianne's eyes widened. She realized where I was going with this.

"Yup, It's mostly around La Push area, but some of the locals here like to go up there too."

"La Push? Am I supposed to know what that is," I asked slightly confused.

"It's a small Indian reservation on the coast side," Mike answered. "There's a beach there, I'm kind of a surfer," He added. He flashed us that same smile again. I nodded, having placed him now. He was one of those types of guys, I should have realized it from the sports jacket alone.

I smiled back though, remembering the last time I'd even been to the beach;

_It had been a summers weekend, a scorching day where the weather was just unbearably hot. It was a regular thing for us to spend the weekend together, so we were all at Shianne's and Allison's house, mostly because it was the biggest one between us all. I had been laying on the floor, with a fan blowing directly at my face just so I could stand the heat. When the question had been asked, I rolled over to make sure I'd heard right._

"_The beach?" I'd never seen a real beach before, just what I'd read from books and seen in some movies. I guess that was my actual mother's, Renee's, fault since she'd never had the time to take me and Lillianne to places normal children went to, she was always too busy going out with men._

"_Yes, I thought we could go down to San Diego, god knows the weather calls for it. Besides, we could use a little family vacation and this works out for everyone. The three of you are out of school and I can take some time off from work." _

_Alison's reply had come from the kitchen, where she was making lunch for all of us. Her outfit that day was clear in my mind: a blue tank top and exceedingly short shorts that left me staring at her legs all day. Her long legs looked just so… well, at least I could blame my furious blush on the heat._

"_I wanna go, it'll be fun and ten times cooler then it is here…" Shana chimed, she and Lillianne had been in the middle of a game of chess, she cheating as always._

"_In other words, you want to go so you can prance around, almost naked, and not be out of place?" Alison chuckled. _

"_Am I that obvious?" Shana teased back. "But I'm being serious. I think we should go… it's too damned hot and I don't like sweating." _

"_It has been a while since we've done anything as a famil- hey! Stop cheating… honestly, why do I play games with you?" I heard Lillianne huff. Shana giggled._

"_Because you won't play with the only other person who knows how to play chess?" Shana answered, to which I heard Lillianne snort. _

"_I'd sooner die then do anything with her," she murmured. I knew she was referring to Sheridan, but I'd never understood why she disliked our eldest sister. Sheridan was fun to be around in general, if not a bit reckless. _

"_Funny, I never hear you complain when she's feeding you," Shana mused, and I could feel Lillianne's heated blush. _

"_You're mistaken. She's impulsive… rude… reckless and incredibly annoying. Not to mention she's a complete flirt. __**'Oui Madame, allow me to 'elp you wiz your bags…' **__It's disgusting," the impression was a little insulting, even though it was spot-on._

"_You say zat now, but when I am feeding you… you can not keep your 'ands off me," Sheridan purred teasingly as she walked into the room with only a bra and shorts on._

_"Nonsense. Don't you have someone else to bother? Or perhaps you're out of women to sleep with?" _

"_You wound me Lillianne! You know zat you are ze only one I wish to take to bed. Per'aps you are jealous because I 'ave yet to do so when I 'ave so many oz'ers ?" I couldn't help but giggle at how red Lillianne turned at that comment, though my fun ended when Lillianne showed me what she thought of my laughing by bouncing a white rook off my head. _

"_Ow! What the hell was that for?" I growled, but she only glared back. Lillianne always denied it, but it was obvious what she felt towards Sheridan. Anyone could tell Sheridan liked her the same way, between the blunt hints and teasing it may as well have been on a neon sign._

"_Play nice Lillianne…" Alison scolded, to which Lillianne complied, though she huffed extra loud to show how she felt about it. Reaching over and knocking her own king over, Lillianne silently forfeited and went over to the couch with an open book. _

"_We are taking a trip to ze beach zen?" Sheridan asked, chuckling at the way Lillianne pouted._

"_It's up for question. But everyone's pretty much saying yes." Shana answered, reading minds was and ability she had, so she'd answered before anyone knew what they were going to say. _

"_Shana…" Alison warned, reminding her not to idly read people's minds since it violated their basest privacy._

"_Sorry… " With anyone else, she'd have claimed that she couldn't control it, but Alison could see through her and she knew she'd been caught. Shana hadn't lied though, we all had wanted to go on some level. _

_Since it was pretty much agreed, we crowded around a map of San Diego to pick out the beach we wanted to go to. Eventually we'd settled on going to one of San Diego's Pacific beaches. Once it was decided, we all went our separates ways to pack. We met back up at the house once we were ready._

_It was only a 6 hour drive from Phoenix to San Diego, give or take, and with all of us packed in Alison's Caravan, the drive was less than comfortable. _

"_Surfing?" I asked from the middle row of seats, where I was idly playing with Sheridan's hair as she laid her head in my lap to sleep, and stave off her extreme motion sickness. At that point we'd been driving about 4 hours. During the trip Lillianne had gone through 2 books and started on a third, while Shana and Shianne held a light conversation _

"_Have you ever gone before, Bella?" Alison asked, glancing at me through the rear-view mirror._

"_No, I'm not really… you know, coordinated for that," I'd told her, she giggled at my nervousness._

"_I'll teach you, it's not that difficult," she said, flashing me a bright smile._

"_Says the woman whose been surfing since she was six," Shianne murmured. _

_Those words were probably the most I'd ever heard her speak at one time. Shianne mostly kept to herself and would only really speak to Alison. Alison giggled, chiding her lover, but she couldn't really deny that. Even I'd known she'd had, had several years of practice. I wasn't all that confident about it, and I had hoped that she wouldn't actually try to teach me when we got to the beach._

_After that, the conversations pretty much ended and the rest of the trip was deathly quite. I think it was because it was still so hot, and talking was just exhausting. Even the breaks and restroom stops were horrid, not only because of the heat, but with most of us getting date requests each time we stopped. Most of the requests went to Alison and Sheridan, but there'd even be the occasional guys who found me interesting or 'pretty'. What made the stops even worse, was Sheridan's own flirting, as she hounded after any girls that caught her eye, much to Lillianne's discomfort. I don't think Sheridan meant any harm, she just liked to know that somewhere inside, Lillianne cared about her. Either way we did our best to spend as little time as possible when we stopped, so we wouldn't have to deal with it too much._

_When we were close to the beach, I was blown away with everything there. The descriptions from books didn't really do justice; there was a shoreline that went as far as I could see in either direction, rocks lined up along the shore to break the crashing waves and fence in the people, except for what I made out was the guarded swimming area. Which was crowded, even from where I had stood I could see them. There were families of all sizes and all kinds, hundreds of people from kids to adults, and even pets were everywhere; sunbathing, swimming, or running around. I didn't feel that comfortable about being around so many people, it had always been a problem with our family. And I had hoped we could find a more private place to spend the day when we got there. _

_Finding a parking spot was a nightmare, thinking back, I don't think I'd ever seen that many cars in one place, except maybe at hospitals. But somehow, Alison managed to claim a spot that wasn't too far from the water. It had still been a nightmare, because as soon as we'd stepped foot on to the beach, there were guys and girls trying to ask Alison, Sheridan, and Shianne out, we practically had to push our way through to find a clear spot on the sand. It was horrible, the waves of suitors got worse after the three of them changed into skin-tight swimsuits; the men went into a frenzy like sharks with blood at the sight of them. I couldn't really blame them! My god they were gorgeous! Sheridan had stood out the most. As beautiful as Shianne and Alison were, she couldn't even compare, and it was noticeable in the glazed eyes of men and woman. I stayed modest with my clothing: short shorts and a thin opened-neck shirt that covered my bikini top, so I didn't get same kind of attention that Alison, Shianne, and Sheridan did. That suited me fine, but Shana was more than a little put out that I'd decided not to wear the revealing swimsuit she'd picked out for me._

_"Come on Bella please?" she had begged, shuffling behind me as Lillianne and I walked along the shoreline, enjoying the beach without being too close to the mass of families and pets that covered the main area. The temperature at the beach wasn't any cooler, but between the cool water and the soothing sand between my toes as I walked, it felt a lot better than it did in Phoenix._

"_Oh leave her alone Shana…" murmured Lillianne; Shana just wouldn't let up about my or her swimsuit choice, she had been dressed the same as me._

"_The both of you are no fun!" Shana huffed at us both, stopping and blowing a raspberry as we kept walking. It was almost comical. Her pouting didn't really last when a Golden Retriever raced past her and she promptly chased after it like a child, passing us but with no hope of keeping up with the dog. _

_Lillianne and I had taken advantage of Shana's distraction, and we took a walk along the rocks hand in hand, just chatting about any topic that came to mind. We used to be so close. I missed it._

_We'd spent the rest of the day on the beach, doing normal activities, like watching Lillianne bury Shana in the sand up to her neck, watching as Shianne and Alison surf from a distance, or just relaxing to the sound of crashing waves against the water and beach. Sometime around evening, we were all laid out on blankets, except for Shianne and Sheridan who were in the water splashing each other. I'd even gone out to the water with Alison and Shianne, but I'd stayed near the sand out of fear of drowning. That's right. I couldn't swim. It'd been around there that Sheridan suddenly showed up Asking me to go into the water with her since Lillianne and begun reading again._

_I tried to dodge the question when I refused, but Sheridan wouldn't just take my answers and leave. She had kept pushing, and Shana took pity on me. _

"_She can't swim." It had so simple for her exposed my embarrassing secret. No one except Lillianne had known and I dreaded what everyone's reactions would be when they'd found out._

"_You, can not swim?" Sheridan asked, she stared at me like I'd just turned blue and sprouted wings. Even though no one else reacted like I thought they would, having Sheridan question me was just as bad._

"_I never learned…" I remember that I had mumbled, unable to look her in the eye. _

"_Zen I will teach you!" She had declared happily, a broad smile on her face. I'd never seen her look so excited as she did then. Honestly, it made me feel really uneasy. Without waiting for my answer, she pulled me further out towards the water._

_I guess she'd decided to start with treading water and keeping my head above the surface, because there were instructions about always kicking my legs and pushing myself out of the water. Before I'd knew I was up to my neck in sea water, Sputtering within seconds._

_We were at that for least an hour. Sheridan giggled as I flailed wildly in hip-deep water, spurting seawater out of my mouth ._

"_Non Bella! You are not supposed to in 'ale when you turn your 'ead towards ze water," she said doubling over with laughter. _

"_Right, inhaling equals instant drowning… gotta remember that," I wheezed. She rubbed my back soothingly. "I told you, It's impossible to teach me how to swim." _

"_Oui… it seems so… zough I will not give up." She had grinned enthusiastic, but by the end of the day I wasn't any closer to swimming, though I could float well enough. It had been a good day… _

_I remembered everything so clearly that it could have just happened yesterday instead of it being nearly two years…_

Someone nudged me, bringing me out of my memories and back to the present.

I blinked, only to find that Mike and my sister were both staring at me, they'd probably asked something, but I hadn't heard.

"Oh, sorry… I was…thinking about the last time I'd been to the beach. It's been a while," I said. Mike nodded in understanding.

"So, what's brings you to Forks?" he asked.

God, was he really doing this? Now? How the hell was I supposed to answer that?

'_**Oh nothing, my sister and I are being hunted by vampires, but we thought we'd go sight seeing in your back watered little town for a few days?' **_Right.

"We're just passing through," Lillianne answered softly, answering for me. Mike nodded again.

"That's cool… so you got a place to stay?" he asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Um, no not really," I said. "We're only here for a few days anyway."

"Do you have any family here?" he asked. I frowned. The questioning was starting to go a little to deep, and even Lillianne started to look nervous.

"Um, I'm not sure, like I said its been a while," I said truthfully, hoping he'd leave it at that. "I like the idea of camping though," I added, trying to steer his questions in a another direction. "You know any good places that sells camping gear?" I couldn't have chosen a better topic; Mike's face instantly lit up at the question.

"Oh yeah, totally! My family owns a sporting goods store, I'm heading there now, want a lift?"

"Yeah dude, that would be great. I mean if you don't mind," I replied, getting swept along by some of his enthusiasm.

"No problem Bella, It'll be my pleasure," he answered, he then stood and gave a slight bow before leaving. Both Lillianne and I exchanged a look before we followed him outside. We caught up with him in the middle of the parking lot where, he had gone to retrieve his car.

"Your Chariot awaits." Mikes 'Chariot' was actually a Silver Chevrolet Suburban, it was a new model from this year, I think. Thanks to Shianne, I can say I know more about cars then I any girl my age should. I smiled as he carried on like a gentleman, he even opened the door for the both us. It was nice, if a not little odd. I sat passenger while Lillianne took the seat behind me. The inside of the car was cozy, custom-modified and expensive too.

"Nice car," I murmured as Mike slid into the driver's seat.

"Thanks," he said, he waited until we were buckled up before driving off. At least he was responsible.

As he drove, we were forced to listen to his entire life story; his favorite sports, his favorite cars, how popular he was at school, how much he could bench, his parents, and stuff like that. He grinned at every response, and laughed every time I humored him. But the only thing I really gathered was that he was a Junior at Forks High School, and apparently a really big hit with the girls, especially one named Jessica Stanley. From the way he told it, this Jessica was his on-off girlfriend or something. Mike seemed like the type of person who had many girlfriends, and I had had my hand with his type In the past. Disgusting. After telling us more than we really wanted to know, he turned the conversation towards us. I kept my answers simple, didn't mention our family, and stuck to the story that Lillianne and I were on vacation and were sightseeing until eventually, we pulled up in front of '_**Newton's Olympic Outfitters'**_, the store hid family owned. He'd said that it wasn't anything fancy or, as Mike had said on the way here; 'epically amazing,' and he hadn't lied. It looked just like an ordinary sporting goods store. Once again, he had been gentleman-like and opened the door for both of us as we got out and again as we made to go inside.

"Hey, I gotta time in, have a look around," he told us. He hopped over the counter and disappeared into the back. I figured he'd only done that to show off.

"He reminds me of a golden retriever," Lillianne murmured, browsing through the hiking gear.

I chuckled, "Yeah, I can almost imagine him with a long golden tail, wagging every time I say his name." I giggled. Lillianne rolled her eyes but she smiled.

"Were not really going to camp out are we?" she asked, her voice dropping a little. "I hate camping."

"You didn't mind it when we used to go with Alison and Sheridan, and it'd only be for a couple of days," I pointed out as I took two backpacks off their hooks.

"That's different…o-oh s-shut up…" Lillianne mumbled, it was almost too soft for me to hear. She shuffled off when I only smiled and resumed my task. The backpacks were 'buy one get one free' at just 30$. I considered them worth it since we could use them to carry food and clothes whenever we were lucky enough to have them, not to mention they each came with free water bottles and a utility knife. This was actually pretty lucky for us. Satisfied that the two I'd chosen didn't have frayed straps or damage, I found Lillianne in the tents section. As I got closer I could see that she was frowning. A bad sign.

"You ladies finding everything alright?" The soft voice of an older woman had come from behind me as I was trying to figure what Lillianne was looking at. When I turned, I found the female version of Mike staring at me. No doubt this woman was his mother, the resemblance was uncanny. It was some relief to see that she wasn't drooling over us like her son had been. Thank you lord. She did watched us though, like she was expecting us to steal something.

"Um, Yeah. What are your best tents?" I asked, ignoring her disbelieving look she'd given me. She paused for a moment, until I guess she was satisfied that we were customers, and motioned for us to follow her.

"We don't have a big selection of tents, a lot of them are built for two or three people and those are our best sells," she said, pointing out each of the brands like a realtor showing off a house.

"This is the Eureka Backcountry, a favorite for solo campers; though its able fit at least 3 people. It comes with only a single sleeping bag but it's easy to get in and out of. It's very simple to set up and completely airtight if you seal it all the way so you don't have to worry about cold or damp nights. The tent's muted green colors allow it to blend into any wooded area–"

"How much is it?" I asked, hearing all that I needed to hear about it.

"$169.97." She answered.

My face fell and Mike's Mother smirked. Of course she tried to hide her smugness, but it was a shit job. When the bell on the door rang, she excuses herself so that she could tend to another customer.

"Now what? We can't afford this." Lillianne whispered, "Can't we just see if he–" I held a finger to stop her current thought. I wasn't sure what we were going to do if we couldn't get a tent. We're in real trouble. We needed to be as far away from the people here as possible. It would only be a couple of days before James or Victoria tracked us down, if they hadn't already figured it out that we were no longer in Phoenix. And having people around us would just make it worse when they caught us.

"I have an idea…" I began slowly, my brain slowly comprehending what I was thinking. "You're not gonna like it either. But it might get us this tent." The light that flickered in her eyes told me she knew where I was going, she understood what I meant, and liked it even less than I did. She would do it all the same, it was wrong, but the most important thing was that we needed to be away from people so they'd be safe when the vampires came after us. The only thing I needed to put the plan in motion was Mike.

"Hey Bella, you two find anything?" His timing couldn't have been more perfect.

"Hey Mike," I said frowning, trying to make myself sound as disappointed as I felt.

"What's the matter?" he'd asked, taking a cautious look around. I guess his mother would probably have been suspicious if she found us talking to him; she'd already made it clear what she thought about us.

"You know, the usual, money issues. I don't think we can afford a tent here…" I said. Mike gave me a sympathetic look and placed his hand on my shoulder. I took a breath as I gently took his hand within my own, making him blush when I squeezed. "It's too bad, I kind of liked the idea of camping and staying a while…" I began, rubbing my thumb over the back of his hand. I heard him swallow as I made to let go of him. "Well, thanks anyway, Mike. We'll just take the backpacks and go–"

"No!" Mike cried a little too quickly. "I mean… well w-which one was it you were looking at?" he asked, he swallowed thickly.

"The Eureka Backcountry…" I said softly, pointing over to it before I turned back to him. I felt something warm passing over my fingers as I kept a hold of his hand. Mike didn't know it, but I was influencing him to give me what I wanted, and skin contact made the process easier. It was a talent I'd discovered in the last few weeks, sort of the same as Shana's mind-reading ability.

"O-oh, that one… it's one of our better sales, w-we have lot of them in stock back in storage…" he said, taking another cautious look around until he found his mother talking animatedly to a young couple, paying no attention to us. Without warning, Mike pulled me, and by extension Lillianne, into a back room.

At first I couldn't make out anything in the dark, but it was obvious we were in a storage room after Mike flipped on the lights. Boxes and crates were piled up nearly to the roof, some open and some still strapped down with plastic ties.

"Wow," I murmured, peering into an open box as Mike leaned over and looked in several crates.

"There's a lot of stuff in here…" I breathed out. The crate I was looking in was filled with sleeping bags.

"Yeah, well this is the time of year for hiking and Camping, so we get pretty stocked around this time… Ah ha! You Miss Bella, and Miss Lillianne, are in luck. You have yourselves a tent." Mike grinned as he held up an identical tent of the one from outside, only it had been boxed.

I smiled and threw my arms around him in a tight hug.

"You're the best Mike!" I said, motioning to Lillianne where he couldn't see. "I don't know how I can ever thank you for this." When I pulled back, Mike had a look of accomplishment on his face as he grinned at me. He was sweating slightly and I could hear his heart rate increase, his eyes had a hungry look in them. I shifted slightly as his hands were suddenly on my hips, any other time I would have slugged him for even trying, but that wouldn't get us anywhere. I had no choice but to grin and bear it, If anything it helped my advantage. Lillianne had moved over to his other side, pressing herself against him where I couldn't see what she was doing. I had to keep telling myself that this was for his own safety.

Mike chuckled, taking his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. I inhaled and felt the deep rumble inside my stomach. Shit… he smelled so good… "It's kind of hot in here…" he murmured, his voice shaky. "Do you… need anything else?"

My stomach growled as he asked, it was really tempting but what was I going to say? _**'Sure Mike since your offering, do you mind feeding us while we have you trapped here?'**_That'd go really well. I shifted myself to get a better view of what Lillianne was doing, and froze seeing that her eyes were starting to glaze over. We had to wrap this up before it got too out of hand.

"No, I think Lillianne and I should be goin-" I began, but I stopped when I realized Mike's mother would be suspicious if she saw us leaving with the tent. "Hey Mike, your mom… won't she notice you gave us a free tent?"

"I-I'll pay for it…she'll never know," he panted, his round face was redder by the second, his scent grew stronger as his sweat increased. My god did he smell good!

I nodded and tried my hand at an 'alluring' smile, it wasn't as cute as Lillianne's smiles but it seemed to be working.

"Thank you Mike, You don't know how much this means to me," I said, doing what I had to, to keep up the act. I leaned in to kiss his cheek, but at that moment, he turned his head, and I kissed him full on lips. To my horror, a jolt went through my stomach, hitting so hard that it felt like, when you drink cold water too fast with an empty stomach. The pain didn't bother me long though, because it was replaced with a warmth that filled my body. It was an amazing feeling. It tasted amazing. Like apples? Or maybe it was a pear? No matter. It was delicious.

'_**I need more. I'm so hungry, Lillianne can have what's left. Just a little more.' **_I moaned. The scent of cherries mixed with apples and pears. Mmm, I love cherries. I licked my lips and pressed harder.

Someone groaned.

That was odd. Sheridan never groaned when she fed us.

I felt a struggle. She never struggled either…

"Bella stop…" I heard a voice whisper faintly. Whose voice was that? I had to slow my pace to remember. "Bella!"

I blinked. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Lillianne. That's right, I was with her… and… Mike? Mike Newton… he…

'_**Oh shit!'**_

I heard a gasp. I wasn't sure who it had come from, but when I looked down I found Mike pinned under me, when the hell had that happen? He was pale and gasping huge breaths of air like a fish on land.

"Shit! Mike say something!" I almost shouted, forcibly shaking him by his shoulders. I could feel the panic building, and I even went as far as to slap him across the cheeks when he didn't respond. "How long was I out?!" I cried looking at my sister.

"O-only a couple of minutes, I tried to stop you!" she whispered nervously. "You wouldn't listen!" Oh shit, oh shit! How much more fucked were we going to be if he died here and now?!

'_**For the love of god Mike! Don't die!' **_The voice in my shouted, and for once we were on the same page. I could feel the tears stinging the back of my eyes as I slapped his cheeks bit harder. Is this what happened whenever someone helps us? I go and suck the life out of them?

I heard myself whimper.

"Bella…" I almost cried at the voice. It was strained, but it was there. He as still there. I let out a relieved breath and I could feel my tears spill over.

"Mike… are you alright? Talk to me." I whispered, holding his face between my hands. He'd mumbled something, but I couldn't really make it out. My god, we were lucky he was only exhausted. I hope that when we leave, he won't remember anything when he fully comes too later. I guess, if anything, there was one upside to nearly killing Mike. And that was Food.

I turned to my sister.

"Come here, let me feed you… " I told her, and she closed the distance between us in seconds, pressing her own lips against mine. It was different with Lillianne, softer, sweeter I couldn't describe it, but she tasted far better than Mike had. And it's not to say that we have some kind of incestuous relationship, because we don't. We'd only found out that we could feed each other weeks after this whole mess started. It wasn't as good as each of us feeding separately, but it meant less people left around like Mike, or worse.

When Lillianne moaned, she pulled back a moment later, her face showing a little more color already. If we'd had been human, it would have been suspicious that a kiss would have that much of an effect on us, but the sudden change was normal for what we were.

"Whoa…." Mike breathed, smiling dumbly at the both of us, he'd probably gotten a big enough rush seeing that to get most of his strength back. Lillianne frowned at that, a little peeved, probably since she'd never liked being watched when 'eating.' She moved to lean over him and stared into his eyes, not blinking or moving until his eyes glazed over under the intense glow of her own.

As I waited for Lillianne to finish, I noticed there was a backdoor to the room. Crawling over quickly, I peeked through and found that it let out into the alley behind the store. Another stroke of luck. We could get away without paying after all. Of course, Lillianne wasn't going to like it, but we didn't have another choice with Mike off his ass. Dragging the tent and bags across the, thankfully, freshly waxed floor, I tossed them outside where we'd get them later.

"Um… we really should get going." I said. I hated to eat and run, especially since Mike had been so kind, but we couldn't stay without things getting worse. Lillianne nodded as she finished with what she had been doing. Taking an arm each, we half carried, half dragged him back towards the door back to the storefront, where we had been greeted harshly.

"What do you think you're doing?" snapped Mike's mother the second emerged from the back, where she'd apparently been looking for us. "That room is off limits to custom- Mike?!" Whatever else she'd wanted to say was lost as it registered that it was her son we held between us.

"I don't think Mike is feeling very well," began Lillianne, as Mikes mother rushed over and replaced her at his side. "We were only going to thank him for the ride over and found him like this." Lillianne is a better liar then I was, so I just stayed quiet and nodded. "He did mention earlier that he wasn't feeling so well…that it was something he ate." she added as his mother checked for fever and pulse. It was a believable lie since Mike was a lot paler then he was earlier; at least she seemed to buy it.

'_**It's time to wrap this up…' **_the voice grumbled. And again we had been on same page. After helping Mike into a chair, we wished him a final get well, and we left. Or at least we tried to leave, the second I made it outside the door, I'd collided with someone and they'd fallen right on their rear-end with a startled squeak.

"Ugh, hey!" huffed a voice. I frowned.

"Oh, um sorry," I apologized holding my hand out. Turns out it was a girl. She giggled when she looked up at me, before she took and pulled herself back up.

"No, no it's alright! I'm just totally clumsy you know?" she said, not the least bit upset even though it had been entirely my fault. "Oh! You're new around here aren't you?" she asked, her eyes widening. I really found it hard to believe that new people were so rare that we could be spotted right away.

"Oh, um we're just here for a couple of days…" I answered, hoping this wouldn't become like it had with Mike. She nodded, although I couldn't be sure if she were really paying attention. She looked me up and down a couple of time before she frowned.

"You're like.. really pretty you know?" she said.

"Oh… um… thank you?" I mumbled awkwardly, what was it with people and calling me pretty? Were they seeing something I couldn't? Lillianne was pretty, I'm just average.

"I'm Jessica by the way," she said, reaching out her hand as she'd introduced herself. "Jessica Stanly, Mike's girlfriend. He works here," I nodded. I wonder how well she would take it if she found out I made a meal out of her boyfriend, and nearly sucked the life out of him.

'_**No more then any other high school girl Bella…' **_I grinned inwardly at the voice this time. A real jokester it was.

"I'm Bella, and this is my sister Lillianne," I said, once again introducing us to someone, who for all we knew, was a threat. From the way she looked, I really doubted it though. Jessica was kind of small, much shorter than me, she's bounced back and forth, turning her head between me and Lillianne, her long curly hair following her movements; she was more cute than deadly. The final proof was her hazel eyes, this girl was obviously human.

"How can you be twins, your eyes aren't even the same color. Oh may-" I blinked, realizing that she hadn't stopped talking the whole time. Luckily Lillianne had been paying attention, and nodded her agreement to whatever she'd asked. As much as I wanted listen to Jessica talk all day; we needed to wrap it up and get the hell out of this town and into the woods so we could plan our next move.

"Um, sorry, but we really have to go, you know before our parents totally freak out or something." I cut in as I took Lillianne's hand, the way Jessica frowned, I was nervous she'd call my lie. Luckily Mike's mother started yelling at us for loitering while her son needed her and she wasn't there to care for him because she was yelling at us. Hearing Mike's name seemed to spark Jessica into a hasty goodbye before she rushed inside.

Lillianne apologized to Mike's mother, to which the older woman immediately softened to. That was just another thing about Lillianne, she had some kind of voice of power or something. Men swooned whenever she spoke, and woman wanted to be her best friend, or more sometimes. The only problem was that she was more of a quiet person, and her voice tended to bring attention to herself. So of course she hated it like I hated the rain and cold, and almost never used it.

And despite the fact that her voice charming had been extremely helpful in our times of need, it also made a lot of issues for us too. Like now, Mike's mother had gone from crabby and chummy as she laughed and went on about how she and her husband got into the sporting business, and about what an amazing child Mike had been. Lillianne humored her, giggling with her when appropriate and nodding when needed; even if she'd have rather been doing anything else. When she finally finished telling Lillianne enough to do a biography on their family, she and Mike's mother exchanged goodbyes and we took our leave. We'd walked an entire block before we doubled back around and into an alley across the street from Mikes store. I didn't want to go to the back of the shop just yet, it was still early and I couldn't risk someone spotting us, so we waited and began to plan our next step.

There wasn't really anything to discuss, it was simple. Get our stuff and head into the woods. We decided we would wait a couple of days, get everything sorted out and somehow catch another flight to anywhere but here. The only problem was that neither of us knew the anything about the woods. We'd only camped a couple of times in the past, but that was with Shianne and Sheridan.

"Mrs. Newton says just north of here is a path hikers take. Its about a Mile out of town." Lillianne said after an Hour an hour of just sitting and planning.

"Mike's mother said that?" I ask and she nodded. She then spent fifteen minutes retelling what Mike's mother had told her. Apparently during her conversation with Mike's mother, she had found out which places were the most popular camping grounds this time of year. It sounded like a lot of people like camping around this la push area, east of the woods, there was a beach there. That was good to know, since we were avoiding people. After we got our stuff, we could head out. Though I hated the idea of having to walk a mile or so.

'_What I wouldn't do to have a car again…' _I muttered silently.

'_**You could always steal one Bella… charm you way into getting one.' **_Offered the voice. I snorted, and otherwise ignored it. If the time ever came to that… then.. Hell I'd sell my body if I had too.

"Bella?" Lillianne's voice was barely a whisper yet I had managed to hear it. I braced myself, I knew what was coming, because she used the tone she used when she was about ask about sensitive subjects, and there was only one she usually used this tone with.

"Lillianne… I swear… if you mention who I think you are…"

"But why not?! He's here and you know it!" Lillianne hissed. "I don't see why we can't just see him and explain things to him."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, he so wanted anything to do with us when we were growing up. What makes you think he'll start caring now? Especially if he found out vampires are hunting us?" I snapped back harder than I really meant. The way she seemed to deflate left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I hated to see her like that, the look of utter defeat and sadness. She knew I hated to talk about that man, but she seemed to cling on to something that I didn't see. It didn't make any sense, even when we were little and he was still married to our mother he was never around, so it wasn't like there was anything to miss about seeing him regularly. When he finally made the divorce official he left, he kind of just faded from our lives instead of leaving a gap.

In all honestly, I had actually forgotten he had lived here, until Lillianne had mentio…

I blinked.

"Wait… is that why you suggested we come here?" I asked, connecting all the little dots. She flinched. "Is that why you insisted on getting here by plane?" I asked louder, despite the fact that she hadn't answered my first question. She was looking more and more defeated, as if I were scolding her.

"I… I didn't know what else to do. We couldn't stay at home. I just thought, it'll take a couple of days for them to catch on to us you know that… and I thought maybe Charlie could help, he's our father…"

"Yeah, well 'daddy' has years of allowance to make up for before I go to him for anything." I snapped. Standing, I slowly peeked around the corners of the alley. I figured that we'd waited long enough that I could chance getting the camping supplies from behind the shop, unless someone had already taken them. I prayed that no one had. I took a deep breath and exhaled. Making sure no one was watching, we ran across the street quickly and into the alley next to the Sports Shop. I told Lillianne to keep watch while I went to get our stuff. I almost cried, feeling the giant wave of relief when I rounded the corner and saw the backpacks and tent were still where I'd tossed them. Taking another look around, I tried stuffing the tent into one of the packs so that we wouldn't have to carry it in the open. Discarding it from be box, I'd gotten it to fit without sticking out awkwardly, when I'd heard Lillianne gasp behind me.

Hastily I gathered the packs together and rushed to her side in case she needed help. When I saw her standing there alone, I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at her for scaring me like that.

"What wrong?" I asked, noticing that she was staring at Mike's car.

"Our stuff is in his car…" she whispered urgently.

I blinked. "What? Oh shit…" I cursed feeling around my pockets. ALL our stuff was in Mike's car, including our passports.

'_**Fantastic Bella…' **_I groaned inwardly as the voice in my head sneered. This was great…

Hoping that our luck held, I walked slowly to the car, I grabbed the handle for the passengers side and pulled, feeling my heart drop when there was no click.

"Damn it!" I hissed, cursing the bad luck that always seemed to follow us. If the Passengers side was locked, then the whole thing was. "Okay… Okay… I can fix this… Lillianne, you tell me if anyone's coming. I need a little time…" I told her, she'd given me her reluctant nod but said nothing. I'd crouched down and crept to the drivers door, trying to keep my frustration out of my voice. I searched my jeans, sighing happily as I found a long-forgotten hair clip in one of the back pockets. Making sure no one was looking before I started, I bent the clip until the halves snapped and inserted them into the lock and started pushing at the bits inside until it turned. I knew that I was hidden from anyone inside the shop and the odds of anyone walking the on the street were slim, but I was still nervous. And with my luck, this would be the day something like a parade came through or even better, the entire police department decides to go on a walk. I had Shianne to think for this, she had shown me how when I had accidentally locked my car keys in the car and she was with me, Alison disapproved of her teaching me how to break into cars, and made me swear I'd never do it again. I'll apologize if I ever see her again, and thank Shianne as well.

"Come on.. Come on…" I grumbled. Though, unlike Shianne, I didn't have patience for this, and when the lock turned, I almost jumped for joy and set myself back entirely.

As I opened the door, something had caught my ear and out of instinct I froze, expecting to be caught.

"It's a cat…" Lillianne assured me, "It's just run across the alley…" she said distractedly, while I let out the breath relief I'd been holding. I looked just out of curiosity, It had been so far away that I could barely see it, there's no way anyone down there would have seen us, if there was anyone down there at all.

I opened the door the rest of the way, grabbed our things from the backseat, and closed it as gently as I could. I put on my jacket first, and counted what cash we had left just to double-check.

"Now, if I were Mr. Newton, I would want to know why a face I'd never seen before was snooping around my car." the voice startled me and made me drop the cash; whoever it was they'd sounded close enough that they had to be right behind me.

"_Thanks for the head's up Lillianne…" _I thought to myself as I turned and saw the blue uniform. It was an officer. I glanced around quickly for Lillianne since she had been supposed to be my lookout, but I saw why she hadn't warned me. She was in the company of another officer, a woman. Lillianne probably hadn't said anything in case they hadn't seen me, since she looked suspicious enough standing there alone.

'_**Come on Bella… lie… and make it quick!' **_the inner voice ordered.

"I dropped my wallet." I lied, hoping he would buy it. It was a common enough thing.

"Where are you from? Never seen you around here before. Just what brings you into our little town?"

"We arrived here just this morning. We're camping." I told him with my best innocent tone, but the way he was staring was making me really uneasy.

"Whatcha snooping around the car for?"

"I wasn't. I was looking at it, it's a nice model. There aren't that many of these where I live, and like I said, I dropped my wallet." he finally gave me a light nod as he looked up over the top of my head.

"I take it that's your sister?" he asked, motioned over towards his partner and Lillianne. I nodded and he looked somewhat satisfied.

"Can I see your I.D ma'am?" he asked. I nodded again, not that I really wanted to, but I didn't really have a choice at this point. I reached into my pocket gave him the little plastic card.

"Isabella Swan?" he muttered as he read through my information, though it had come out more like a question. "Chief of Police, Charlie's Isabella?" he asked, flicking his eyes to at me. Crap… he could not have been serious. Charlie talked about us? And he was Chief of Police? Oh, what fresh hell was this going to lead to? No.. I could pull this off as an odd coincidence.

"Hey Roy, I think we have the chief's daughters here. One of 'em is named Lillianne right? One of his twins?" The woman cop called over the one with my ID, and I watched all my plans of not involving HIM shattering as they confirmed it between themselves.

"Seems so, Meredith," the Officer, Roy, answered before turning back to me. "Does Charlie know you're here?" he asked. I shook my head. It didn't matter now, after this he was just a radio call away from knowing. Looks like Lillianne was going to get what she wanted.

"Actually, I wasn't sure if he was still living here. Since I guess he does, maybe we'll surprise him with a visit." I had to force a smile, because even the thought of seeing him made me sick.

"Well, he's got the day off today, but why don't we go and see him now? Roy offered, gesturing to a squad car. I barely had time to scoop up the money I'd dropped much less object as Roy started almost forcibly ushering me towards his cruiser. Lillianne was being guided into another one close by. I guess they weren't partners and had just happened to be nearby if they were driving separately. After both of us were in the back, each of the officers took the camping gear we were carrying and loaded it into the trunk of their cruisers, and we were on our way to Charlie's.

The drive was pretty much quiet, except for Roy going on about my dad and how he was going to be excited to get a surprise visit from us. I spent most of it staring out the window or into his rear view mirrors to make sure Lillianne was still behind us.

"So… you've gotten pretty big...and pretty. You look like your mom." Roy said, glancing at me as if he'd sensed my nervousness." I looked at him.

"Sorry, I can't say that I remember you…" I replied honestly.

"Well that's alright, you were fairly young, and we only met once, maybe twice." he continued. "How is your mother?"

"Mom's fine," I said lightly shrugging. " She married a minor league baseball player named Phil Dwyer. She seems happy at least."

"You make it sound like you really don't know…?" Roy half questioned.

"Lillianne and I live in an apartment while she travels around with him so… You do the math." I answered sarcastically before looking back out the window. I never really liked talking about my mother and he seemed to pick up on that. There were a few more attempts at conversation that died quick. He tried commenting on the weather, which was wet and made me miserable, so that ended fast. He then asked about Lillianne, where I stayed as careful as ever when answering any questions about her. He eventually gave up and I went back to looking at the passing scenery and making sure of Lillianne behind us. The part of Forks we'd gone into was different than any other part I'd seen: it was undeniably beautiful. For a moment, I thought back to our little family and how if Sheridan saw this, she'd have instantly fallen in love with it: everything was green, even the tree trunks and the overhanging branches, which were all covered with moss, and the floor was covered with ferns and other plants. Sheridan probably would have known what kind they were, but I had no clue.

Eventually we made it to what I assumed was Charlie's place, but I couldn't say that any of it looked familiar. It was a small home that didn't look like it could have had more than two rooms inside, it was old with peeling paint and cracked windows covered with plastic wrap. Then again, what did I care if it needed a little fixing up and maybe a paint job? As soon as Roy and Meredith were gone so were we. It couldn't hurt to look though, and my attention was soon fixed to the faded red truck parked just in front of the house. As I looked at it something clicked in my mind and I was out of the cruiser, and jogging over to inspect it before I realized what I was doing. The truck was a beautiful creation, with big rounded fenders and a bulbous cab, obviously a 1953 Chevy. It was gorgeous! I had to blame Shianne for introducing me to the world of vehicles, and as much as I liked the truck in front of me, she'd have loved it even more. I'd learned enough from her to appreciate what I was looking at; sure it couldn't dream of ever being as fast as a new truck, but it had one of those solid iron affairs that would never get damaged, even in the worst crash possible. I'd have given anything to have something like this, especially a month ago.

"What I wouldn't give for something like this," I murmured, apparently it was louder than I thought because Lillianne responded as she came up beside me.

"I'll never understand your obsession with cars."

"And I'll never understand your obsession with cleaning, studying or cooking. No… scratch that, I like when you cook." I teased back. She rolled her eyes.

"Ah, I guess Billy and Jacob are here then." Meredith said, the way she looked at the car made it obvious that she didn't appreciate what she saw, and for some reason that made me mad.

"Come on girls." she said, ushering the both of us back towards the house where Roy waited with a grin, his hand raised to knock on the door. As he lowered his hand to do so, the door swung opened and he ended up knocking on air.

"You were right Charlie! We have company." I was almost surprised that the voice had been a woman's. But I guess Charlie would have moved on at some point. "Hello Roy, what are you doing here? Come to watch the game re-runs?" the woman asked cheerfully, to which Roy shook his head before whispering into her ear. Despite the fact that we were at an distance, I could still hear what he said whether he whispered it or not. Our hearing was much better now that we'd eaten. He had told her who Lillianne and I were, and her eyes widened as she fixed her gaze on the both of us. She frowned. I knew this wasn't going to go well, she stared at us for a moment more before she disappeared back into the house.

"Uh oh, that wasn't a really pleasant look." Meredith says softly, she looks at the two of us while Roy stayed at the door. "Charlie's remarried, with a step-daughter and son. One of them is around your age."

"Oh, fantastic, Charlie's decided to completely cut us out of his life and start a new family. And darn.. Here I was hoping for those lost Christmas presents and allowances," I snapped sarcastically. I didn't feel as angry as I thought I'd be finding out something like this.

'_**Now's our chance, take one of the cruisers and go!' **_the voice yelled. Obviously it was a lot more upset than I was at the situation.

"_Oh yeah great plan… just what we need, Forks' police force after us, plus the Vampires… brilliant." _I argued back silently. Before the voice could argue anything else though there was another voice from the house, this one belonged to a man.

"What's the matter honey?" the voice asked, I guess it was Charlie since he called her honey. He had sounded concerned and surprised, and then there was the sound of him probably getting up.

"Your, other daughters are here." She forced out each word bitterly. Oh, so he's mentioned us to his new family, lovely.

"What? Both of them? They're here now?"

"Yes. What do they want? Money? To live here? I won't have it Charlie!" I heard her hiss, already almost into hysterics. I heard Charlie sigh, and then I heard his footsteps before he actually came into view.

"Bella? Lils?" he called. His voice was gruff and his words a little slurred. I acknowledged him with a brief wave, catching a glimpse of a boy peering out from the uncovered crack of a window, watching us. Charlie, our father walked further out and stopped halfway across the unevenly mowed lawn, giving me a better look at him. He had black, unevenly cut hair with strands of gray throughout it, the jagged haircut made worse with one side of his hair sticking out at odd places while the other side was matted tightly to his head. He stared at us with eyes, the same eyes that I'd inherited from him but darker and colder.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise!" he called cheerfully, smiling underneath his small mustache, the action deepening the light wrinkles in his face more. The way he looked, I briefly wondered what kind of life our mother had left him with after they'd divorced. I looked over at Lillianne for her reaction and she met my gaze with an shrugged. I could see the hurt in her eyes, this wasn't anywhere close to what she'd hoped for.

"Don't be shy! Come on over!" he motioned, I felt Lillianne take my hand and wait for my lead. She was nervous, not only because it was the first time seeing him in a long time, but because this woman and two more people were part of the picture."

"Oh…" Lillianne gasped, her breath quickening. "This is bad time…" she murmured, but it wasn't soft enough because Charlie kept up with the encouragements.

"Nonsense! My god… look how you two have grown!" he said, crossing the rest of the way over with a slight stagger, hugging the both of us when he got close enough. I crinkled my nose as he did, he stank of alcohol. "Sue, come here!" he called over his shoulder after he managed to stand again. She sighed loudly and dramatically.

"Lils, you look just like your mother. The both of you do, but you got her eyes." Charlie gushed. Lillianne gave a nervous smile as he stared at her.

"T-thank you…" she muttered.

"And Bella, um.. .longer hair than I remember…" he tapered off, obviously unable to think of any praise for me. I only stared at him, flicking my eyes to the woman as she approached and stood at his side.

"You remarried," I said. Charlie nodded nervously even though it hadn't been a question.

"Yeah… so uh, right…this is Sue Clearwater."

"Hi…" I said. She didn't say anything back, only narrowed her eyes at me.

"Hello…" Lillianne greeted her softly, and she turned her glare on her in response. What the hell was her problem? I wondered with a frown, feeling an urge to show her what I thought of her with a sound slap.

"Hello Isabella, Lillianne." She finally said, though it was nowhere near friendly. Charlie chuckled, trying to make the awkward situation easier before he kissed her.

Gross.

"I'm sorry, we're interrupting aren't we?" Lillianne murmured, I rubber her back slowly and wondered if she still wanted to explain the situation.

"Nah, it's just boring re-runs" Someone said from behind the woman, the person in question was peeking out from behind her. "Hi I'm Seth!" He greeted with a huge, genuine grin. He looked probably 13 maybe 14 and was obviously his mother's son except he'd learned to smile. He had a boyish face that really made his brown eyes noticeable, russet colored skin and black hair. He seemed friendly enough, so I smiled back at him.

"Hi Seth, I'm be-"

"Isabella!" he cut me off, unable to hold back, "I never thought I'd ever meet you! And you're Lillianne!" he continued, almost bouncing around in his excitement.

Lillianne smiled shyly at his eagerness. "Hello."

"You're.. really skinny." he gave comment, and I felt the both of us blush deeply. Sue's gaze shot back and forth between us with a look of concern after Seth pointed that out, and even Charlie's look seemed a bit off-put about it. I didn't want to do this. I didn't need his pity or his new wife's.

"We run a lot, for school." I half-lied, we definitely weren't part of any school-based sport, but they didn't need to know that detail. Charlie nodded.

"You uh… want something to eat?"

"No… I mean, we can't stay long.. We're supposed to meet up with some camping buddies a bit further on… but Officer Roy insisted we come see you." I told him.

Charlie frowned, almost as if he were sad.

"Come on Bells… its been a while…"

"_**That's for damn sure." **_

"I um… don't really like crowded places and this is a little too much for me." I said. Lillianne nodding her agreement, apologized for both of us to a disappointed Seth.

"Stay the hour at least." Charlie insisted, "I wanna talk to you, the both of you." he added. His tone made it sound as if something was worrying him. I was firmly set on declining, but as luck would have it my stomach growled. This time hungry for real food.

"Shit…" I muttered and Lillianne gave me a questioning look. "Fine whatever…" I sighed. Immediately, Seth pulled Lillianne away and chattered on about whatever came to his mind while Sue smiled stiffly at me before turning to follow her son. As she walked away, I saw another girl trailing behind her; she must have been hiding perfectly behind her this entire time. Sue and the girl, who I assumed was her daughter, disappeared into the house behind my sister and Seth, leaving me standing there with Charlie.

"Everything alright?" Roy called, having gone back to his squad car at some point. "Meredith and I need to get back on patrol." he explained, thought I guess that this was just too awkward for both of them to keep watching. He and Meredith unpacked our camping stuff and Charlie gestured to an empty lawn chair for them to pile it all on before waving his goodbyes to them. I crossed my arms as the two cruisers disappeared down the street.

I knew what was coming. Once the two officers were completely out of sight, Charlie turned to me with an entirely different attitude. He frowned, and his eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing here Bella? And you had better have a damn good explanation too."

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><p>Just an update<p>

Updated 1/10/2015

**Whew… My gosh this was way over due, but when I was writing it I realized…. I need a beta whose more… in tune with Twilight, so it was difficult getting this chapter written. But anyway, I hope you liked the Chapter. Please rate and review, I love positive feed back. Please excuse any mistake I may have down when in writing and I'll see you soon.**


	4. Camping?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer. I also disclaim any unintentional plagiarism. The only thing I do own are characters Lillianne, Shana, Shianne, Sheridan, and Alison. I'd Like to thank my friend Sam who again as usually helps me in my writing. And my lovely and gorgeous girlfriend who is very motivating and inspirational.**

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><p>"I mean… damn it Bella! You can't just come out here without contacting me first!" Charlie sighed in irritation.<p>

I frowned at the accusation that I'd done anything wrong. "Contact you? What were you expecting? A phone call? A notice of visitation?"

"Well I wasn't expecting this," he said, motioning between us.

"You and me both."

"Does your mother know you're here?"

"Does Renée know we're here? I doubt 'Mom' would have remembered that she even had daughters, if Lillianne didn't insist that we call on her birthday. That is, if she's even noticed we aren't living with her anymore." I said. He frowned, obviously not liking that answer even though he knew it was true.

"That doesn't give you the right to interfere with my life Bella, you or your sister." He said. I looked at him in surprise. Interfere with his life? I made extra effort to avoid anything to do with him, how could I interfere with his life? I didn't even want to be here now. The only reason I was, was because I hadn't realized Lillianne's plans. I curled my hands into fists as my anger built at the thought that he had the gall to think that I wanted anything to do with him.

"Oh sure Charlie, I went out of my way and wasted money on a plane ticket, just to come all the way here, waiting for this moment after all these years just to screw up your life." I said through gritted teeth. Glaring at him as he narrowed his eyes and straightened up his stand.

"What are you doing here then? Please don't tell me you're here for a money situation," he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. I rolled my eyes at the idea of coming to him of all people for money, though the thought did cross my mind for a moment.

"I REALLY wanted to see you, Charlie. Maybe join this… new family you've started." I said with a little more bitterness than I had meant.

"Bella…" he said, he was hesitant, "I just… I just don't want you interfering with what I have here…"

"Oh my god," I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my mouth. "I can't believe you actually think I want anything to do with you! I haven't seen or heard from you since Lillianne and I were seven! I'm not a child anymore, a lot of things have changed and I don't need or want you in my life. You may have a new life but you haven't changed at all..." Charlie winced at my accusation, looking down and uncrossing his arms with a sigh.

"Bella, I'm sorry… It's great to see you, it really is but you can't just come here and expect things to… well… you can't expect anything. You can't stay here." he said, giving me an exasperated sigh.

I didn't know whether to yell at him or laugh in his face. He hadn't heard a single word I'd said, or he was hearing only what he wanted. Either way, it was clear he didn't want me or Lillianne here, though in his mind I must have been begging to stay. It wasn't hard to guess that he wanted us gone so his new family wouldn't learn about his past.

'_**I get the feeling we're not welcome here, Bella.' **_my inner voice whispered, as if I needed help getting the idea.

'_Yeah, yeah… you and me both,' _I answered, realizing that I was talking with myself again. If Shana were here she'd have never let me hear the end of it. To be honest, the idea of having her around to taunt me wasn't a bad thought at all, after all she- I shook my head, realizing that I was getting lost in my own thoughts while Charlie was still waiting for an answer.

"We're just passing through. We're not staying…" I finally answered. He stared at me in silence for a moment before giving me a stiff nod.

"Renée's not here then?"

"Birthday calls…" I muttered, sighing heavily.

"That's more then either of you've given me," he muttered with a grunt. I blinked. Was he really going to start on this?

'_**Come now Bella, don't deny you never even tried to contact your human father. He didn't pretend to be there while ignoring you constantly as a child like she did, but she gets a call every year? How's that right?'**_ my inner voice was sneering as it threw my own thoughts at me. Renée wasn't the best of mothers, but she wasn't terrible either. She was definitely the better parent when compared to Charlie, at least we knew where she was if we ever needed her. I rolled my eyes, fighting back an irritated sigh.

Charlie knew as well as anyone why I never bothered to contact him. He'd never wanted us to begin with, of course he'd never said it out loud, but it was clear looking back on things. He was always angry or yelling at us for something, and that only got worse after he found out the truth about Renée. After that, he'd rejected both the three of us, mom, Lillianne, and me. The only memories I have were of him storming out after fights, leaving Lillianne to ask when he'd be back and Renée answering; _"Daddy will come back later sweetie." _Those weren't exactly memories worth treasuring.

"It's about as much as you did for us." I muttered, wondering if Lillianne was having a better time than I was inside the house.

Charlie was quiet for a minute before forcing a half-hearted chuckle. "Anyway, camping huh?" he asked. I guess he had talked all he wanted to about the past. "I never pegged you for the outdoors type Bella. Your… mother…. hated the idea of camping…"

I shrugged, "Well there's a first time for everything… not that you ever bothered to learn what I was into." I said to him. He nodded, unsure of how to respond and fell silent again. The both of us stared at each other awkwardly, waiting for each other to break the silence. It got even worse when we both sighed and brought a hand up to rub the back of our necks in unison. I dropped my hand down to my side when I realized what I was doing, I didn't want anything in common with him, even if it was just a coincidence. I know he'd seen it too, judging by how he was staring at me.

"Look we can go. I never wanted to come and see you, Lillianne did but I know she never expected… this." I said, looking over to the house where it sounded like Seth was getting along with my sister.

Charlie clasped his hands together, as if he were thinking it through before he shook his head and tried to meet my gaze.

"You're already here. What kind of a father would I be if I sent you away now…?" he murmured.

I frowned as he played the part of the apologetic man. Sure, now he wanted to be any kind of father. I bet it had more to do with what kind of person his new wife and kids would think he was if he sent us away so quickly.

"Hey, Charlie! Dad and the guys are wai- oh…" a soft voice called to us. I gave an mental thanks to whoever it was for saving me from the awkwardness of trying any further conversation with the man before me. I leaned over to look past Charlie and saw a boy there, he looked like he could have been fourteen maybe fifteen, with long, glossy black hair tied back into a ponytail that draped around the nape of his neck. His skin was flawless and a silky russet color, with dark eyes that sat above his high-planed cheekbones. He wasn't cute, I'd have to say that he was, in a word, pretty. He looked back at me with a curious look in his eyes and a large grin on his childishly round face as he waited for Charlie to answer.

Charlie coughed when I flicked my eyes back on him, clearing his throat as he motioned the younger boy to come over and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "uh… right, Jacob this is Bella, she's my daughter from... another wife. And Bella, this is Jacob Black, he's the son of a very good friend of mi-"

"You're Isabella." Jacob interrupted Charlie's reluctant introduction. I arched a brow wondering how he seemed to know who I was, until he seemed to grin wider. "Seth is telling everyone, he's really excited. It's nice to meet you."

"Hi," I replied. "and it's actually Bella… I prefer Bella." Jacob nodded immediately,.

"Gotcha. So, are you… uh… hungry? I mean, well your sister said she wouldn't eat unless you did. And you both look like you could use the food…" his eyes ran up and down my body like he were scanning me. Okay… rude much? Even for a kid, I mean seriously? I was feeling a little hungry though, part of me wanted to see what they had but no, no… we were wasting time here.

"We can't stay. My sister and I are meeting up with a group of friends and they'd get upset if we were late." I lied. Jacob looked a little disappointed, but I could have sworn Charlie looked happier. Prick.

"Well, why don't you come in, say hello to everyone before you go? Maybe get a plate for the road?" he said, enthusiastic for the first time since we'd arrived. He was still playing the part of a caring father and left me no choice but to accept or look ungrateful for his false generosity. He even went so far as to wrap an arm around my shoulder and lead me toward the house.

When we were a few feet from the door I caught an odd familiar scent. It wasn't a bad smell, it actually reminded me of Sheridan somehow but I couldn't pin down what it was. It couldn't be her though. There was no chance that she'd be around here, and I felt stupid even considering it.

Charlie's house looked smaller than I remembered, at least I think it was. I looked around as I picked my way through everything, it was all so familiar: the wooden floors, faded white walls, the cracks in the peaked ceiling. Lillianne and I had lived here once, but I could still remember it. The front room was crowded with people who were gathered around a medium-sized television. I couldn't be sure, but it looked like the same one as when we lived here. The group, which was mostly guys, were roaring as they watched whatever was on the TV as I made my way around them to see the small coffee table piled with snacks and drinks spilled carelessly. It was the same table as back then, I could still remember all the times I spent drawing on it.

Seeing all the familiar things made me remember the last time we were here, the noise and the stink of sweat becoming fainter as the memories of the day we left came flooding back;

"_Lillianne, sweetheart… please get away from the door." Renée's voice was clear in my mind. It had been a cool evening then, and Renée had been setting the table. I could see myself, sitting at the coffee table drawing, well doodling, as the smell of passable food filled the house. Renée had never been the best of cooks. _

_That morning, Charlie and her had gotten into an argument over something silly, I think it was a mess that I'd made, but it had ended with him leaving in a huff while Renée cleaned it up. She'd told me that it wasn't my fault and that, "Daddy loves you very much," but I wanted to show him that I was sorry. I'd wanted to draw something, and Lillianne did too. _

_It's been too long to remember what I drew, but I did remember that Lillianne had been so happy with her drawing that she spent the day waiting at the door to show Charlie as soon as he came back._

_"Sweetheart please…" Renée called. _

"_But daddy... he'll miss my picture if I don't show it to him…" she said. She was very quiet, even back then. _

"_I'm sure daddy will love it sweetheart, but come and eat for mommy?" our mother said, she'd looked at me and I'd seen a flicker in her eye that I didn't understand then. A sad look of acceptance. Lillianne had to be told a few more times before she'd given up and came to eat._

_They'd had fights before, but that night was the first time Charlie didn't come home. When morning came, Renée packed our bags and we left without so much as a note. Lillianne cried the entire day we spent driving. She didn't understand why we had to leave, and back then neither did I. It took years until I finally did, and by then Renée had had a string of boyfriends and I'd given up on ever having a father again._

I frowned and sighed, shaking my head as the memories faded again. It was a long time ago, maybe some things from then were still here, but everything was different now. I stepped past the table and looked towards the back of the house, where the front room eventually became the kitchen. There, with just enough room to fit both of them, I found Lillianne and Sue Clearwater working together perfectly as if they'd practiced for years. I was shocked, we hadn't been here an hour and she was actually cooking for them! Though I couldn't deny it, seeing her pitching in happily with Charlie's wife to feed everyone, while Seth was practically glued to her hip with a bright smile on his face; she looked more at home than I'd seen her in a long time.

I guess she found this kind of thing comforting. Even when we were home with everyone else, she always looked most comfortable in the kitchen or doing household things around the house with Alison. Sometimes I'd complain that she was nothing like me but I was never serious, especially when it came to her cooking. I probably loved her baked goods more than anyone.

I don't know if it was how happy she looked or maybe it was the smell from earlier, but I found myself thinking about everyone again. Alison being a housewife, Sheridan always with her video games and flirting, Shianne and her trucks, even Shana's crazy obsession with shopping that always left me exhausted when I was done chasing after her, I missed it all. The people I cared most about in the world, who I may never see again. I wanted to smack myself on the head, this wasn't the time to be thinking about that. All it did was make me depressed.

'_**Way to go, me,' **_mumbled my inner voice.

"Hey, Dad come look!" Jacob called, drawing my attention from my own musings. He came up patting me on the back hard, well, it was closer to a shove. Either way it was enough to make me stumble a little before he caught me by the arm. "Sorry Bella, I don't know my own strength sometimes," he said jokingly with a wink. I frowned a little, rubbing the back of my neck again out of habit.

Now that my sense of nostalgia was over, the size of the room and all the people crowded together was getting to me. I was starting to feel uncomfortable and nervous, when another feeling started tickling at my mind. It was that weird feeling when someone's watching you, and I couldn't decide which made me more uncomfortable: that or the claustrophobia. I looked around to find the source, and it turned out to be a girl sitting on the staircase, the same one who had hidden behind her mother when we first came. I felt myself blush as I caught sight of her, she had an exotic beauty about her. She was tall too, taller than me while she was just sitting, at least 6 feet. Her toned arms and perfect copper skin stood out against the blue tank top she wore, the only thing that got me was her glare. She had her head propped up in her palm, her hair hanging loosely around her face in a short pixie cut style. She was beautiful, second compared to Shana, but the way she kept glaring from underneath her feather-duster-like eyelashes was pretty unnerving. I mean what the hell? She acted like I'd done something to insult her.

"This is Bella? Your daughter?" I heard someone asked Charlie behind me, I blinked, not realizing that I'd started having a staring contest with the girl. The question had been asked by a calm voice, and when I turned to look I was met with a man in a wheelchair. His eyes were dark, but welcoming as he looked me up and down. "This is a pleasant surprise," he said. He extended his hand, which I awkwardly took out of politeness and shook."My name's Billy Black," he introduced himself kindly. I smiled in response. He was a well-aged, heavyset man. His skin was a shade darker than his son's and his face was deeply wrinkled, but the same black eyes stared at me, except with more wisdom behind them. Like his sons, his hair was tied in a long ponytail, but over that he wore a worn-out cowboy hat. "What brings you all the way back to Forks, Bella?" he asked as he let go of my hand. I shrugged.

"Camping apparently," I answered.

"Oh? Where? La push perhaps?"

"Uh… yeah, I met a guy today, um… maybe you know him? Mike Newton? Anyway, he said it was popular around there. I just thought we'd take a look around," I said. Billy nodded.

"Safest place to be," he murmured. Something about his eyes told me he knew something, but I couldn't tell what. "How's your mother?" he then asked. I blinked. God what was it with everyone asking about my mother? Then again, knowing her as I do now maybe I didn't want to know.

"Fine, I guess." I answered. He raised an eyebrow, ready to ask another question until I cut him off. "Hey, whose truck is that outside? The 1953... it's a Chevy right?" I asked. Billy's eyes widened with surprise and I found myself being stared at by three more people, if you included Jacob. I blushed under his wide-eyed, slack-jawed stare, and somewhere from the kitchen I heard Lillianne mutter 'car junkie' followed by soft giggles.

"You certainly know your vehicles Bella. You could really tell that just by looking at it?" Billy asked.

"It's a beautiful truck," I said with a nod. "I know someone who would die for something like that."

"Ah, you don't have to lie Bella," said Jacob as two shorter boys came up behind him, nodding their heads in agreement, "it's a piece of rusted junk and runs terrible." I had the sudden urge to slap him as he chuckled, even if he was beautiful.

"It's a good model. Sturdy… I'd kill to have a truck like that." I defended; they just didn't understand the beauty or the quality of it.

"Seriously? You lived in Phoenix didn't you? I bet there are hell of a lot of better rides out there," one of the new boys said. I glanced towards the kitchen and caught Lillianne's eye with a frown. What else had she told them if they knew we were from Phoenix? She gave me a nervous smile before turning around to stir a bowl in her arms.

I looked back at the boy as his friend joined in.

"Yeah, I mean, you ain't nothing if you don't have a ride down there, or so I hear." the second boy said, extending his hand to me. "I think introductions are in order. I'm Embry, Embry Call, and the less handsome one's called Quil Ateara. It's nice to meet you." They were each skinny and short, but Embry was taller of the two with black hair and brown eyes. The smile he gave me couldn't have seemed more genuine. The other boy, Quil, wasn't as… I guess, meaty as Embry. He had an impish grin and a buzz cut, but he was okay in the looks department despite what his friend said.

I took the offered hand and squeezed it lightly.

"I'm Bella." I said quietly. Too many people were learning who we were, and that was something we didn't need. "So, you guys… drive?" It was awkward as hell, but I needed something to steer them away from mine and Lillianne's life before they asked anymore questions.

"Nah not us, I mean Jake here should be driving any day." Quil said, he took my hand the moment Embry let go of it, shaking it with enthusiasm.

"Yeah? What d'ya drive? Is it gonna be fast?"

Jacob laughed. "It's…well it'll run…decent? I still need some parts for it though, but what about you? You don't drive?"

I felt myself shiver as I remembered the last time I'd seen my car. It'd been in the middle of the road with the entire front demolished after James had ambushed us. Now that I think about it, we'd never gone back to that area, but I doubted the car was still there. By now the wreckage had probably been scrapped by the city nearby or most likely, James had made it disappear. Which meant I'd never see my first car again, the one that Shianne had helped me pick out and maintain for years.

I sighed as I admitted for the first time that my car was probably gone for good.

"Bella?" Lillianne called, and I blinked surprise at the sound of her voice, before I blushed with embarrassment as I realized that I had been staring off into space without answering the question.

"No, I mean yes, I drive but uh… I had a accident so they had to tow my car." I answered meekly.

"Was it serious? What happened?" Charlie's voice had startled me, because I'd actually forgotten that he was still behind me. When I looked over my shoulder, I tried to answer his question, but no words came out of my mouth. Images from that day were flashing in front of my eyes, as if his question had been a trigger; _Suddenly_ _I was laughing with Lillianne as we tore down the road, the ride had been smooth because of the suspension that Shianne had helped me put in, it made it seem like we were sitting still except for the wind rushing against the windows; Then we'd crashed into James, who had come out of nowhere. There was crunching metal, and a scream, Lillianne's. I was back in that warehouse again getting backhanded through crates for James's amusement; helpless while Victoria bit into Lillianne's neck and forced blood-curdling screams out of her…_

"It was a drunk driver," I heard Lillianne say beside me as the images faded and I came back to reality. She must have seen my hesitation and come over. I nodded as I looked down, realizing I was clutching my own arm as it throbbed, echoing the pain from being broken that night. "He came out of nowhere when we were on our way home, but luckily we swerved out of the way and only hit a traffic pole. There were minor injuries but we were lucky." she continued.

"Oh god, Bella… You really have to be more careful! What if your sister got injured?" Charlie huffed, shaking his head. He scowled and clenched his hands as he muttered something about me being inexperience. It was clear that he put all the blame on me. I frowned.

'_**Oh sure, the next time we drive into a vampire waiting to ambush us, we'll be sure to do it carefully. Why don't we tell him what really happened that night, just to see his face?' **_my inner voice snapped.

'_No, shut up, we don't need anymore problems,' _I answered back, watching as Lillianne returned to the kitchen, before I'd noticed how Charlie stared after her with a look I'd never seen on his face before. It was different than how he looked at me, like there was sorrow or regret held in his eyes, before he finally relaxed.

"Just… I don't know Bella, be careful with her…" he murmured, staring at the ground instead of me. I was speechless. If I didn't know better, it sounded like he actually cared. Maybe he just held a soft spot for Lillianne since she had Renée's eyes and reminded him of her more then I did. I nodded though.

"Yeah, don't worry it won't happen again…" I said. When Lillianne brought some plates over, I touched her shoulder. "Hey, are you ready to go?" I asked, surprised when she nodded instead of offering some kind of complaint. She looked cheerful as she said her thanks to Sue for letting her help and hung up her apron before she joined me at my side. Part of me wished we didn't have to go yet if she was that happy here, but things had gotten too awkward and we'd already stayed too long.

Seth wasn't happy with the idea of her leaving though, he followed her with a frown, still victim to her charms.

"Would you ladies like a ride perhaps?" Billy asked as he wheeled himself around Jacob. "I'm sure Jacob could drop you off wherever you need to go. Just to be safe."

I had to think about the offer.

A ride would solve the walking problem and it would get us where we needed to be sooner, but Jacob seemed like the type who would want to make sure we were safe. Which meant he'd stay around until our friends, who I'd had no idea if we'd ever see again, showed up.

"It's alright, I don't mind." I heard him say while I still weighed the choices.

"That's so sweet. Thank you, we really appreciate it." Lillianne said softly, making the decision without me. There wasn't any hesitation when she said goodbye to Charlie, Sue, Seth, and Leah; who apparently was the girl on the stairs who'd been boring holes into my back the entire time we'd been here. As Lillianne followed Jacob outside, I said my own awkward goodbyes to everyone, watching my sister as long as I could. What the hell happened to the timid girl from earlier? I was beginning to worry feeding her was a bad idea.

"You wanna give me a heads-up on what's going on?" I whispered when I joined her outside, watching as Jacob loaded our stuff into the back of his beautiful truck.

She shrugged. "We need a ride. Billy offered, and Jacob is more then happy to give us one. I would have thought it was obvious, Bella." she said.

"I can see that much, but did you ever consider he might want to meet our 'camping buddies'?" I asked. She nodded.

"Then I'll charm him after…" I wanted to argue with her, but I snapped my mouth shut when I considered it.

"Right," I murmured, "after all you're the smarter pair of us." She rolled her eyes at me.

"I just think logically…. Alison taught me that." she said with a small smile. I couldn't help the small chuckle as I leaned over and kissed the side of her head.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Charlie seems… happy doesn't he?"

"Yeah, figures it would be so easy to cut the both of us out of his life." I mumbled, happy that we were leaving. This time, she kissed me on the cheek.

"Don't think about it like that, Bella." she said softly. I couldn't believe that she would still defend him after seeing for herself that he didn't miss us at all. But that was the thing about Lillianne, she was too forgiving.

"Wanna drive, Bella?" Jacob asked from the driver's side door, having finished up while we were talking. He was grinning and my body answered before I had time to consider the offer.

"Seriously?" I asked, he tossed me the keys with a nod. I was feeling a lot more excited than I'd like to admit at the invitation.

"No accidents. Okay?" he warned jokingly. I rolled my eyes but managed a small smile to humor him as I climbed in and let the heavy door slam shut loudly. The inside of the truck was… it was big. That was the only word I could think for it. There was room for at least three, maybe four people, and there was even an old-style stereo with a turn-dial. I wished Shianne could see this, she'd be so jealous if she knew that I got to drive it.

"You and your obsession," Lillianne murmured after Jacob helped her inside and she slid in beside me while I marveled at everything.

"It's not an obsession," I defended, running my hand over the steering wheel like an excited kid."It's a hobby. And considering it might be a while before we see another truck, aren't I allowed to take this opportunity to enjoy my hobby?"

"Hobby, obsession… call it whatever you want Bella, you're still a car junkie," she teased. I could sense the smile on her lips just from hearing her tone and I wanted to keep that smile there as long as I could.

"Alright, ready when you are. Just take a left when we hit the end of the street." Jacob said as he slid in beside my sister, slamming the passenger door shut behind him. I took that as the okay to start the engine, moaning happily as it roared to life beautifully when I turned the key. Just the lovely sound of it made me want to cry, but I didn't. I may have been drooling and even bouncing in the seat though from how Lillianne shook her head, trying not to giggle at my expense.

I waited until both were buckled in before pulling out to the street, leaving Charlie's house growing smaller in the rearview mirror as we left. As Jacob instructed, I took a left at the end of the street before we stopped at several lights and took a few turns, making light conversation along the way.

Jacob lives on one of the reservations down in La Push, with his father and older sister, but she hadn't been at Charlie's. I didn't think much of it, but I guess It's just them living together since his mother passed away a couple of years ago in some kind of accident. He didn't say anymore than that though, so I turned the conversation to cars, something he took to right away.

We drove and chatted about them for a good fifteen minutes, and I learned that he and I were a lot alike. He made a hobby out of working on cars and bikes like I did, and even had my taste for the older models. After a while he'd asked me again what kind of car I used to drive, and I answered. I then told him about all the things Shianne had helped me work into it, though I didn't mention her by name, and all the work that had gone into maintaining it. When I'd asked him about his car, he'd happily told me about his 1986 Volkswagen or The Rabbit, as he called it.

"How do you know so much about cars? Did you take a class?" I asked as the truck practically crawled along the road. The more I talked to Jacob, the more I liked him. He easily could have been my type, if he weren't a boy.

"Naaahh, the schools around the reservation only have math, science and all that. Nothing about cars or bikes." he replied with a chuckle. "What about you though? You sound like you took a shop class or something."

When I nodded and explained that I actually did, he stopped and stared in surprise.

"No way," he said with a chuckle, "you mean an Auto Shop like where you paint cars and detail them, right?"

"Duh, I'm serious. I was in there with a friend and we built an engine together. Well she built most of it herself, but I helped." I argued just as he started laughing. I actually pouted as he carried on.

"I-I'm sorry. You just don't seem the type Bella." He was convinced that a pretty girl like me, his words not mine, would never want anything to do with the greasy inner workings of a car. I couldn't believe it! What did he think I was talking about when we were talking about the models? How pretty they were?

"There is a saying you know, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover." I told him, trying not to let it get to me. I felt Lillianne's fingers entwine with mine as she leaned into my side, calming me a little. I guess that all this car talk was pretty boring to her, and the scenery outside wasn't much to look at with us going so slow. I lifted her hand and kissed it gently, feeling her giggle softly.

"Junkies." she mumbled.

"You two are pretty close huh?" Jacob asked as he watched. I felt Lillianne turn and nod at him.

"My sister, and my best friend." she told him and I smiled.

Jacob nodded, staying quiet for a few minutes.

"So these friends of yours, what are they like?" He asked suddenly. I stiffened against Lillianne. I guess it was too much to hope that he'd forgotten.

"What d'ya mean?" I said, trying to keep the small sense of panic out of my voice.

"Your camping buddies? Are they girls too? Or guys…? Boyfriends maybe?" the question had come out a little too curious if you ask me, but I laughed and shook my head.

"No, no. No boys, or boyfriend for that matter. They're a couple of girls. Big on camping." I said.

"What are their names?" he pressed on. I frowned a little. I didn't really know too many people, at least who were girls, and making up random names quickly was somewhat difficult, so I decided it wouldn't do any harm if I used actual names.

"Shianne, Alison, Shana, and Sheridan." I said quietly; it's not like he'd ever meet them.

Jacob chuckled as he looked out his side of the window, "Okay now I know you're lying."

"How do you figure?"

"Alison? Shianne? They sound like a pair of mall-crazed girls, not campers." he answered. It was my turn to laugh. Of any of them, Shana was the mall-crazed one with Lillianne and Alison behind her. Shianne wouldn't consider even going to the mall unless she could see Alison try on lingerie.

"It is though. Alison loves camping, and Shianne likes being outdoors."

"And the other two?"

"Shana and Sheridan?" he nodded. "Well Shana is more the mall type you were talking about. And Sheridan, well I bet she'd move outdoors if she could." I said with a chuckle.

It was vague, but Jacob was apparently satisfied as he looked out his window again. Though all his questions were making me think back fondly to the years before we'd lived in Phoenix, the first time I'd ever gone camping with Lillianne, Alison, and Sheridan;

_Sheridan and Alison had invited us all to go camping, but only Lillianne and I had accepted. Shianne had had a business trip or something and Shana hated camping, so she stayed with a friend instead. As soon as we'd gotten to the campsite, Alison had Sheridan gather wood for a fire and Lillianne and I had gone to keep her company, or keep her on track since she could get easily sidetracked._

_I don't really remember much of what happened, but somewhere along the way they had started arguing, something over a girl Sheridan was supposed to meet with that weekend but had blown off to come camping. Lillianne had said how it was just like her to toy around not be serious about anything, even us, and Sheridan just teased her for being jealous. Then, as if to get on her nerves, Sheridan had picked her up and decided to strand her in one of the trees._

"_This isn't funny Sheridan, please get me down!" I remember that Lillianne had cried with terrified whimpers."Sheridan!" she squealed, while Sheridan had continued climbing. Lillianne hated heights at the time, and had been really frightened as she been left on a branch. Our eldest sister had probably taken things a little too far. _

"_Okay, okay, come on that's enough you two." I called, but she'd waved me off. _

"_I can not 'ear you!" she shouted loudly. "you wish me to go 'igher?" she called back, knowing full well that I hadn't. _

"_Alison's gonna be mad if we don't get back soon," I called up again as I watched Sheridan lounge on a higher branch above Lillianne, her bare feet swinging lazily._

"_B-Bella! Do something!" Lillianne cried. I hated heights too, but I had to do something as the older sister. And since Sheridan had decided to be difficult, I had to get her down. I'd never climbed anything before then though, so my trying had been like trying to fight nature. It'd turned out about as well as expected, since I'd only gotten halfway up before getting stuck. And I mean literally stuck, with my leg caught between two branches after slipping._

"_Ce n'est pas comment on grimpe à un arbre soeur…" Sheridan had called down to me, the whole thing had been funny to her as I hung there. I had no clue what she'd said to me, but she'd probably been teasing that she'd leave me there for a while. She did finally bring the both of us down, though I think it had more to do with Lillianne being in tears than her getting bored. She had made us both swear not to tell Alison about it, but Lillianne did and Sheridan got banned from the tent that night._

_The funny thing was that when I'd woken up the next morning I had found Lillianne sleeping on top of her, who'd snuck in sometime during the night. I'd taken a picture of it. The both of them looked so comfortable with their arms around each other, but I don't know where it's gone now._

I smiled lightly. I wonder if Lillianne thought about Sheridan and the others as much as I did.

"Oh hey, pull up here." Jacob said suddenly. I blinked and glanced out the window to see that he was pointing at a dirt path. I could see a beach a few miles ahead as I turned onto the road. After a mile or two we pulled onto another paved road that ran past a cliff.

"Oh wait, wait! Pull over!" Lillianne squealed, leaning over Jacob's lap and pointing out at the cliff as we passed. "What are they doing?!" she shouted as I pulled over. Before we came to a full stop she was already climbing over Jacob to get out the other side of the truck.

Confused, I looked out the windshield to where she had pointed and gasped. On the cliff we had been passing there was a group of males, three of them to be exact. From what I could see, it looked like the two bigger ones were bullying the smallest of them, shoving him back and forth between each other until he went over the cliff.

Lillianne screamed and I gasped, but Jacob only chuckled.

"Oh my god! What are they doing?!" I asked, rushing across the street to where Lillianne was.

"Relax Bella, their just cliff diving." Jacob said as he joined us. "It's a sport… it's a rush for one thing, and its insanely dangerous for another. Anyone with a brain jumps lower, and leaves the showing off to Sam and his posse." his tone sounded bitter as he said the last part.

"Someone you have a beef with?" I asked.

"Nah, just someone who gets on my nerves. He thinks he runs the place… just better to say out of his way and ignore him." He explained. I nodded, looking across the way. The two boys left were looking back at us. I know it was impossible, but I couldn't shake the feeling that they were watching us more then they were Jacob.

"So who are they?" I asked.

"The taller one is Sam Uley, he's like… the ring leader… or something I don't know. The other one is Paul Lahote and the one they threw over is Jared Cameron. Paul and Jared are pretty good friends, they used to hang around with Quil and Embry… then one day they were Sam's lackeys. They do what they want and if anyone has a problem with it then they answer to Sam."

"Sounds like an issue."

"It is, well if you live here. You don't have to worry about it though, I doubt they'll bother you."

"Good. But if they're such a problem, you should stay away from them." I told him, reaching out and taking a hold of Lilliannes hand, as she watched one of them, Paul, take a running start before flipping off the cliff, with whoops and hollers.

She frowned. "That's something she would do…" she murmured, too softly for anyone other then myself to hear.

"Come on Lilli, we really need to get to the spot…" I said.

"Right, of course…" she answered, she sounded extremely relieved now that she knew they meant to go over. I could have sworn that Sam guy was smiling at us as I led her away.

"Wanna drive?" I asked, pulling her along. She rolled her eyes.

"Of course not. I'm terrible behind the wheel. You know that." she said with a giggle. She was a straight A student, very punctual, and even more responsible than me, but behind the wheel of a car she was a disaster. Shianne had only tried to teach her once, but she'd sworn off never again after Lillianne had managed to almost flip the car over an intersection.

I chuckled. "Yeah that's right."

She looked at me with a pout. "You're not supposed to agree with me!"

"You'd have me be a liar then? And in front of Jacob?"

"Oh nonsense Bella… you're a terrible liar and you know it." she challenged. I laughed.

"You two are close indeed." Jacob commented, as I moved in to attack Lillianne with relentless tickling. I'd kept at it for a good seven, maybe ten minutes before I finally let up under the threats of never having a homemade meal from her again and being forced to sleep outside the tent tonight. I caved in and let her catch her breath before we got back on the road.

I drove with the directions that Jacob gave me, and soon we were driving along some trees. The farther in we went, the more trees there were until there was a solid wall of wood on either side of us. I'd never seen so many trees in one place before, I think they were Oak, or maybe Redwood? I wasn't sure if those even grew in Forks. Whatever they were, there were a lot of them and they were growing in pretty big. Maybe James and Victoria would be slowed down by them if they caught up to us.

I could at least hope, right?

Finally, Jacob had me pull over so that he could climb out and retrieve our stuff from the back. Lillianne followed behind him while I waited in the truck. When I killed the engine things became quieter, except for Jacob's chattering, and I could take the opportunity to take in the surrounding tranquility; I could faintly hear the birds in the distance and smell the earthly aroma of the trees and surrounding plants. It was a familiar smell, but I didn't spend more then a second to taking it in. We couldn't afford spending anymore time being idle. I waited a minute after Jacob quieted down before I reluctantly climbed out of the truck and made my way to the back.

"Hey, you ready yet?" I called.

"Just about." Lillianne answered. When I found them, she had Jacob's face between her hands, just like she'd done to Mike before. As she whispered softly to him I leaned against the truck and waited until she finished. It's strange, but I liked watching Lillianne trance people, manipulating them to say or even think what she wants. Of course she's always gentle about it, she never forces them. It's more like she leads them. Either way she's better at it than I am.

In no time she had Jacob convinced that he'd met our friends, even to the point where he actually said a cheerful goodbye to all of us, before he finally left. The look she gave me after he'd gone from our sight was nothing short of a victory smirk, and I applauded her quietly before gathering our stuff and taking her hand in my own.

Pulling her along, we started going the opposite way than Jacob had suggested. If there were people camping out here then it would be safest if we avoided them.

"You know, Jacob was very kind, we should come back one day I'm sure he would love that." Lillianne told me.

"Yeah…" I mumbled. Maybe we could come back some day, if we ever had another chance.

We didn't speak another word after that. We only focused on moving forward. There was only one way to go and that was towards more trees. We stopped several time when either of us got tired, and after and hour we'd actually passed a small stream. I wasn't sure where it lead out to, but after we'd filled our water containers, we'd decided to change course and follow it. We went up stream instead of down, I was concerned that if we had continued it down we would have come across other campers or hikers, with our luck even Jacob. God forbid that happens again.

"How far are we going?" Lillianne asked the third time we'd stop for a rest. At the time we'd been walking for a little under two hours.

"A far as we can until it starts getting dark?" I some what asked in return, just to see if she had any objections.

"We're really going to do this? Sleep in the forest…?" she questioned miserably. I nodded.

"What else are we going to do? Ask Charlie to rent us our old room? Come on Lilli, it's for the best and it's only for a couple of nights anyway."

"I hate the idea of sleeping outside…"

"And again, you didn't mind it when we went with the others."

"Exactly, we were with the others back then. Sheridan, Shianne, and Alison are scarier than anything we could have faced when they were with us, and Shana would have known if there was any danger before hand if she'd heard anyone's thoughts." She argued. She was right. Except for maybe Shana, Lillianne and I are the weakest of our family. Sheridan, Shianne, and Alison are at the top, and in that order. With the three of them around, how could we be anything but safe? But now it was just the two of us. It wasn't the first time we had been on our own, but the four years Lillianne and I spent on our own before we met Shana was far from the situation as trying to survive being hunted by vampires.

"I know, and you're right, but we only need a couple of days to think and-"

"And then what? We don't even have enough money for the bus… and don't tell me we're going to hitchhike again.."

I cringed at just the mention of hitchhiking. "No… of course not. Never again…" I'd said it so quietly I doubted that she even heard me, but one look at her face told me otherwise; a look of regret. it was probably a reflection of my own and I knew we were both thinking about the same incident.

'_**Things happen Bella… now is not the time to reflect on it.' whispered the voice in my head. **_

It was right, now wasn't time.

"Come on, lets go." I mumbled with, linking our fingers together and pulling her along like I often did. Or at least I tried to and nearly ended up falling as she stood firmly in place. When I looked over my shoulder I saw her standing with her eyes widened, looking past me.

A jolt of panic shot through me.

"What's the matter?" I asked. Looking in front of us and around, hoping that somehow James or Victoria hadn't caught up to us already.

And then I gasped. I felt my mouth fall open, and my eyebrows furrowed together. I don't know how I hadn't seen it before. It was only few yards away for gods sake!

"I didn't think there was supposed to be anyone out here…" I whispered.

"Jacob said there wouldn't be." Lillianne murmured.

I scoffed. The both of us no doubt had the same question as we stared at the structure in the distance.

Why the hell were there a house out here? And who lived in it?

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><p><em><strong>Hello readers. Here we have the next chapter! Way over due I know and I'm so sorry it took so long. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please Rate and Review. Please excuse the errors I know I have most likely made. And I hope to see you soon! <strong>_

_**Posted- 9/2/2013**_


	5. The home

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer. I also disclaim any unintentional plagiarism. I'd Like to thank my friend Sam who again as usually helps me in my writing. The only thing I do own is the Character Lillianne.**

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><p>I scoffed with disbelief. What happened to, <em>'no one would be this far in'? <em>Sure Jacob had never said it was a definite thing, but I had assumed or rather I hoped that we'd be alone out here.

"Jacob said it was just woods out here. There shouldn't be anything else here, let alone anyone living this far in." Lillianne whispered.

"Maybe Jacob didn't know? Or maybe he's never been this far in." I murmured. I glanced at Lillianne before casually tiptoeing towards the home; making sure to keep her close behind me.

"Oh my god…" she murmured.

"You have got to be kidding me," I whispered. A minute or two later I placed a hand against a solid wall and gasped. We weren't seeing things, it was a real large white house. Like one of those fancy houses owned by country clubs. It had to be over a hundred years old despite its timeless look. It was least was three stories tall and gave the appearance of being completely original, from doors to windows. It was either that or everything had been perfectly restored."You know, it's kind of weird for a house like this to be out here. Isn't it?" I mused, glancing at Lillianne again.

She shrugged. "It might be, but maybe the owners are distant people?"

I slowly nodded, "Yeah, or maybe their freaks. What do you bet the basements full of starving mutations?" I grinned, watching as she craned her neck to look at me and frowned.

"That's not funny, Bella." she snapped. "Beside that kind of thing only happens in the movies."

I shrugged this time."Yeah, but so does finding a house in the middle of the woods." I finished. She rolled her eyes and I had to laugh at that. She knew I was only kidding, but I still managed to irritate her. Though with all joking aside, It was still was probably the home of some doctor, maybe even a scientist or something.

'_**I'm still betting on freaks…' **_

'_You and me both…' _I snorted.

After another minute I glanced through one of the front windows. From what I could see, the home was furnished as elegant as it was built, but the lights were out. It didn't matter which window I looked through; there wasn't a single glow spilling out of an unseen room or hallway. It gave me the feeling that the house was vacant, not because of the lack of light, just that no one had been inside it in a long time.

Anyone else would have turned and left, but my stomach chose that moment to growl and pique my curiosity.

'_**Don't you wonder if there's food inside? Let's go check,' **_my inner voice purred. Yes, it had literally purred and I inwardly sighed, cursing myself for not taking Charlie's offer of a plate to go.

'_If you're my inner voice, shouldn't you come up with a more reasonable suggestion? Like maybe leaving?'_

The voice snorted like I was an idiot or something.

'_**You are an idiot, Bella. You're the one constantly having silent conversations with yourself. And just look at that house, it's probably empty and you're the first ones to come across it. There's bound to be food inside.'**_

'_Yeah, probably what's your point? What if there isn't? Or what if it's been so long it's all rotted?' _I shot back.

'_**My point is you stole backpacks, but you didn't steal food. You may have fed today, but at some point you're going to get hungry again and there isn't anyone around for miles. You don't exactly have time to waste on what ifs. Or have you forgotten that two Blood lusting vampires are going to be on your ass in a matter of days? Worst case scenario is that the house is empty. That alone solves the whole camping out idea, you, me, and Lillianne hate so much-'**_

'_but I-' _I tried.

The voice snorted again, _**'You and I both know you hate the idea of camping more then anything. The best case scenario is that there is food inside, we can load up on that and be out with in an hour.'**_

As much I hated to admit it, it was true. We had no food. Food was a good thing. A wonderful thing. I. Love. Food. I'd let myself get insanely fat if it were possible. That's how much I really I love food. But that didn't mean I had to ignore the facts in front of us.

I have to think about this from a different view, a logical view; A) There is food inside. We could take as much as we could carry, and it would defiantly hold us over so there wouldn't be any other problems, like Mike. B) There is food inside, but its all rotten or rats have found it. And I'll be damned if I'm eating another rat. C) It's empty inside, no food, no water, but it gives us a roof over our head. And who am I kidding? I hate camping too. It's cold and damp, but inside a tent it's bound to be hot and sweaty. So really I'm miserably either way.

_**D) There's clothing. There's bound to be something inside that you or Lillianne can wear.'**_

'_Clothing…' _I could give it that. Even as I accepted that fact, I found myself creeping closer towards the front door, keeping Lillianne a fair several steps behind me. If we were going to do this, and I mean if, we were going to do this right and be aware of our surroundings. We didn't need any more unpleasant surprises like earlier.

'_**Really… what's the harm in seeing if the place is open? if its locked, we'll leave.' **_whispered the voice.

"Yeah, yeah…" I mumbled.

"Bella?" Lillianne quietly questioned, "Who are talking to?"

I felt the heat rush to my cheeks, "Nothing, no one… just talking to myself. You know making decisions." I mumbled, giving her a wary smile.

"We're going to break in aren't we?" she asked. I knew she disapproved of the thought, it was very clear in her expression, but she was going to have to deal with it. It wasn't the first time we'd broken into a home, and it would'nt be the last.

"We don't have time to argue about this. Go look through the window over there, tell me what you see." I told her. She gave no further argument and obeyed. I continued to the opposite side of the home, so I could look inside to where she couldn't. It was dark inside; —it wasn't, I can't see my own hand in front of my face dark—, but more like; —someone obviously lives here, they're just not home at the moment—, kind of dark. Either way I felt a little more reassured as I crouched back near the entryway.

Lillianne snuck a glance in her window and gave me the okay to try the door.

I swallowed thickly as my hand grasped the door handle. _'Oh god, what if it's locked? What if it's a trap? James could be inside, waiting for us right now. They'd have no problem with the dark.–' _I shook my head quickly and let out the breath I had apparently been holding.

The last part I could rule out, it hadn't been a week since our last Phoenix encounter, that was the rule. Then again, James had once caught me an hour after the game reset. He even admitted to have been closely tracking the both of us that entire week, but he never did it again. Apparently that had made the game too tiresome for him, but still, it was his word and when did that ever do us any good?

I was making myself frantic just thinking about the possibilities.

I couldn't afforded to think like this now, not when we're already so far. I shook my head, took a deep breath and then turned the knob.

_Kerlack!_

I couldn't believe how easily the door opened. The hinges barely made a sound as the it swung back, it had been nearly silent except for the loud catch releasing. Whoever lived here must have never considered that anyone would ever find their house. But to be honest, it was pretty far into the forest. but just having a house this far made them suspicious. Were we going to be dealing with some sort of outcasts?

"Here we go," I whispered quietly; more to myself then to Lillianne. I wasn't going to let breaking and entering into a private house bother me right now, this was for our survival. I threw my guilt out the window and pulled Lillianne to my side before we entered together.

The inside was as beautiful as it had been outside. It was still pretty dark all the same, but it was very open. I guess spacious would be the better terms. The front walls seemed to vary from several shades of white, where as the walls in the back had been entirely made of glass; beyond the shade of the cedars, was an lawn that stretched bare to the wide river outside. The Scenery was amazing. Whom ever had designed the place had known what they were doing; the walls, the high-beamed ceiling, the wooden floors; everything was beautiful, but scenery was more of Lillianne's thing. When I'd turn to see if she was alright, she had already settled onto one of the plush sofas. She stretched out the entire length, and went limp.

"Oh my god. When was the last time we laid on a couch?" She purred. Yes she purred. And I'll be dammed if anyone has a bad thing to say about it because it was so adorable. Plus I had to smile at her. It had been weeks—no months since I'd seen her relax so comfortably. "I might have myself a nap."

I rolled my eyes. "Now, is that any way to behave in someone else's home?" I teased.

"That depends. What are YOU going to do that worst then a nap?" she asked. Sitting up she tilted her head to the side.

"You don't want to know the answer to that," I told her. She frowned. "It has to be done. Why don't you sleep a while. I'll do it." I set our tent down beside her as she yawned. All joking aside, she deserved some relaxation. And I didn't mean the sitting a catching your breath kind of relaxation; I mean the whole sleep for hours, days kind of relaxation. Actually, the idea sounded fantastic. I would have joined her if I hadn't learned from experience that its better to steal first and relax later. The owner could return at any time, and I we'd have to get the hell out with what had, or we'd be screwed until; A) James and Victoria found us, or B) we got lucky enough to break into another home.

In any case, I would have to relax later. First things first and that's always food.

The kitchen was actually pretty easy to find. From across the room we were in, there was a staircase on the other side of the house. No doubt bedrooms were up there, so there was nothing editable in that general direction. So I'd found the Kitchen in a matter of seconds. It was close to the front room; something I liked because it kept me within walking distance to Lillianne in case there was in issue.

The kitchen itself was immaculately clean and designed like the ones you saw on reality TV. The floor was tiled like a chessboard with marble tiles that had been cut perfectly to fit against the wood of the cupboards and bigger utilities. The counter tops of the entire kitchen were done in granite polished to a white shine, fitted to hide all seams and edges as if it were all one continuous piece. Near the middle of the counters there was a stove fitted snuggly into place with 6 electric burners on top with its own hood and fan to vent smoke and an array of shining metal cookware hanging just to the left of it. Just a bit to the right a stainless steel sink had been installed with all of the extra features like a spray nozzle and faucet filter for clean tap water; and behind the sink a full-sized open able window with plain cream curtains. To the far right a line of appliances stood ready: blenders, vegetable choppers, coffee machine, everything that would make cooking more convenient. While at the far right a dishwasher was built into the counter.

'_**Shit…' **_my inner voice whistled.

After a minute of admiration I snapped out of my state of bewilderment and headed straight for one of the cupboards. I swear to god I must of finally died; because no words could express the beauty of it all. There was so much food, packed food; bread, crackers, cereals, can goods, unopened packages of beverages; just about everything you could imagine.

I laughed.

I actually laughed. For once, things actually looked up for us. I could of fucking cried a god damn river. I almost did before I composed myself, and peered out before calling to my sister.

"Lilli, put what ever food you can carry in your backpack, only take easy to open stuff. We'll leave soon okay?" I'd told her. She sat up, shot me a judgmental look, but nodded. She was always such a good girl. I knew she hated the whole stealing thing. Who could blame her? I hated it too, but what else could we do? When she joined me the kitchen, I squeezed her hand and kissed cheek,"Good girl." I whispered, feeling her nod slowly. Regardless of how either of us felt– I shook my head, deciding to push those thoughts out. We would only be here for a few minutes longer anyways, depending on how fast I could get my job done.

I took the second backpack and ventured up the I'd spotted on the way in. I moved slowly, just incase someone was home and hadn't heard us come in. If the bedrooms were up here, then there was bound to be some clothing. God knew we needed new clothes. That was just another shit thing about this whole game, if we wanted clothing, then we had to steal it. Unfortunately, after a week of torture and running it's hard to be discreet about your appearance. James liked that though. He like the scent of stained blood and sweat. Victoria on the other hand didn't, and I have to admit on one or two occasions, when I'd come too after the first or second night of torment, I'd woken to being fully clothed in something new. Usually when James was gone. Any other occasion, we had to steal any clothing, and unfortunately the last pair had been to small.

I ran my hand through my hair and sighed, before I noticed the wall west of the stairs. Whoever decorated this place seemed to have a strange sense of humor, because on the way upstairs as a décor item was an art piece—at least I think I was. I don't know I'm not an artist—, filled with Graduation caps.

"I don't know if it's funny, creative, or creepy…" I muttered. I grinned though. What kind of nightmare would it have to be to attend that many graduations? Not that I wouldn't know. I graduated at least, what, 4 times already?

I continued with a shake of my head.

The first room I had come across was a fairly large one. It faced south—or I think it did. I was never good with direction either—, but that direction had a wall sized window. I couldn't help it as I entered and looked out the window. I was met with the view a river. And just across from it was the forest, which stretched out as far as I could see. Just how far in was this place? The Mountains were closer then I thought possible.

"What are the people here freaks or something?" I murmured. I moved away from the window and looked around the room; I noticed that one of the walls been completely shelved with music, It was like walking into a music store. I was actually impressed, most of it was classical, old records, the good music. There wasn't a bad selections of CD's either, which I figured sounded beautiful on the expensive sound system on the other side of the room. We'd probably get a good deal if we sold it. Not that we were was going to. Lillianne would never speak to me again if we went that far. I won't say the thought didn't occur to me though.

I spent the next couple of minutes rummaging around. It was actually a very nice room; the floor was covered with a thick golden carpet and the walls were hung with heavy fabric. There was even a large plush sofa and a comfy looking be-

I blinked. There was no bed. That was unusual. There was closet, and even a couple of dressers, but no bed?

'_**It's just a music room then.' **_said my inner voice.

'_I guess, but that doesn't really explain the closet, or the dressers.' _I replied back.

'_**Does it really matter? Grab the clothes, and let's get the hell out of here.' **_

'_I know, okay?' _I answered. Again with the silent arguments. I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. After another minute of searching the room; where I'd found some shirts that seemed to fit pretty well, there really wasn't anything else that was of any use to me here. So after one final look around; I packed the shirts into my backpack and headed out for the next room.

The second room was just down the hallway and wasn't as big as the first, but it was more defined. The walls were decorated in dark and golden shades, along with the carpet. There was a sofa, just as there had been in the first room, and like the first there wasn't a bed. The east wall; again, I'm not good with direction, but I'm pretty sure it was east, was filled with all sorts of magazines, and a dresser. The top of which had several mirrors and make up kits.

The other side had a bookshelves, but instead of books it was fill with CDs and an expensive, yet classic looking sound system. I felt like I was in a simpler time standing in this room. Simpler yet odd.

I'd gone through the same motions I did the first; rummaged through the dresses where I found some stylish pants, skirts and other unmentionables, before I'd checked out the closet where I was utterly disappointed.

There was no way we could take anything from in here. Why? Because the clothing was way too beautiful to be traveling in, but I did manage some tops I thought Lillianne would like. Nothing in her exact size, but it at least it would fit.

I'd finished pretty quickly and moved on.

I'd stumbled on to a bathroom next, which I was secretly thankful for and used before I went through the medicine cabinet.

There'd been some pain killers, bandages and even a stitch kit. Stuff I knew we'd needed. I couldn't even count the times where we could have used fresh bandages. Not that I was worried about myself, it was more for Lillianne's sake. I read down a line of Antibiotics brands, read the labels and usage of each one, before I stashed them into my backpack.

"Could have used this a long time ago…" I murmured, looking at a cream for infections.

Suddenly, I could hear James's mocking laughter and I felt the tears sting the back of my eyes. I closed them and my vision blurred behind a memory…

_I was lying in a hospital bed, well I guess I was strapped into one. My breathing was ragged and my body was throbbing. The pain was so unbearable. The lights above me flickered, the voices around me were loud and I was screaming. It wasn't because of the pain, I was screaming for Lillianne. _

_We were separated. _

_I vaguely remember how we got to the hospital, time was disoriented; one minute I remembered being in a room I didn't recognized, only that James was there, of course he was he was always there. Victoria, however, was no where in sight. But what had been worse was the fact that Lillianne wasn't anywhere to be seen either. _

_I remembered looking over to James and he smiled at me, calling to me, saying 'poor Lillianne, she doesn't look very well.' And then the next minute, the light above me was flickering. When I tried to sit up I couldn't, because I was tied down._

"_L-lillianne?" I called, my voice was hoarse and weak, my heart gripping with panic. _

"_Please doctor, I want the truth about my daughters well being, what could have possible done this to her?" I heard a females voice. Daughter? Was it possible that Renée was here? _

"_Yes, I know. But her x-rays show…" a male began, "I just don't understand, the nature of these injuries are unusual. it's a miracle shes alive. I'm afraid we may not be able to save your other daughter."_

'_**Other daughter? Get up Bella. Get up now.' **__That was the actually the beginning of my inner voice._

"_Doctor please, tell me theirs something you can do. They're both so young." the woman… Renée pleaded._

"Ma'am... I don't think you realize the severity of an infection of this… magnitude. The infection has spread and she's lost far too much blood. We're administrating blood transfusions, but her body's rejecting them at an alarming rate." the doctor said wryly. I struggled against my restraints, the motion made me cry out in pain, but I pushed the feeling aside.

"_N-no you don't understand. I need them both to be alright! I have to make up… I've never been… She can't die! I need them both!" The woman shouted, I heard a sob and my heart lurched. _

'_**Lillianne's going to die?' **_

"_Lillianne?" I called loudly, swallowing past the lump in my throat. She was not going to die. I would make sure of that. "Lillianne? Are you there?" I called. I began to pull at my restraints and I groaned._

'_**No, no, no! It hurts, so much pain.' **_

_Why the hell were these restraints so fucking tight? The leather straps strained against my efforts, the struggling made the pain worst and I ended heaving a heavy sob before collapsing on the bed. And then I did the only thing I could think of… I screamed._

_I screamed and screamed. Until I couldn't anymore. I struggled against my restraints until I drew blood and struggled even more._

_I heard a door open and then foot steps. "Somebody sedate her!" Someone yell beside my bed. "Miss swan, I need you to relax you're in terrible condition." _

"_No!" I screamed, "I need to see my sister! Let me go please!" I arced my back, crying out past the pain._

"_You'll reopen your wounds! Get me more people in here!" _

"_Bella?" through the commotion I could hear my mother's voice. I knew it was her's. It wasn't that she wasn't the best of mothers out there, but I knew her voice. _

"_Mommy please! Help her!" I screamed, I don't know why I called her that. Maybe it was the fear of losing Lillianne the panic of being without the one person I loved the most. _

"_Where the hell is that sedative!" one of the men bellowed, pushing the nurse aside where she stumbled against the wall. When he leaned down to restrain me I lurched forward, my forehead smashing against his face as I did. There was spray of blood before he fell to the ground. _

_The nurse quickly rebounded to my side again. I felt hands grab at my legs, my waist, my arms. It was like I could hear footsteps approaching, and at that moment the man returned to my side, his now crooked and bloody._

"_Calm down sweetheart,"she soothed. She was gentle as she held my face between her hands,"it's okay Isabella. It's okay now You're safe i promise." she said to me. She was pretty woman, beautiful green eyes, soft lipstick pink lips, long eyelashes, her skin was a fairly dark mocha I just wanted to taste. I couldn't believe I had the audacity to actually blush, and watch her return the gesture. I continued to twist away from her though, but her scent, a scent like sunflower seeds enveloped me. I was hungry. I was so hungry._

_And then something snapped. One of my hands had broken free, and before the nurse or anyone else could react, I lunged forward and pulled the unsuspecting woman towards me, pressing my lips to hers. Her mouth parted, and an warmth filled my body as I kept her firmly close to me. Not that she had any choice, she was paralyzed with fear, and I was too hungry to care, let alone stop myself. _

_I felt her struggle, I heard another snap, followed by a third, and then a fourth. I felt myself slowly rising, and a second hand came to rest on her shoulder. It was so good, she was good. It had been weeks since my last meal, and I trembled with satisfaction… _

Somebody whimpered; before I realized that it was me. I looked into the mirror to find the tears spilling down my cheeks. I sniffed, slamming my hand onto the counter and swore. Why did I have to think about that now? What was wrong with me?

'_**Quite a bit in fact.' **_the voice said. I snorted. I took a moment to splash my face with cool water and recollect myself before I move on, my mind still lingered on memories though.

The next room was even better, and even bigger then the first two. It was painted with a mixture of spring colors. The walls on my right were accented with paintings and photos, which I couldn't help but gaze at. Many of them were single photos of a young girl, a very beautiful young girl who apparently; due to one of the frames having a heading; was named Alice.

'_**Alice, pretty name.' **_the voice purred. I nodded, if only to myself. To be honest I always liked the name Alice. It made me think of someone happy. A bright person falling down rabbit holes, embarking on strange adventures with creepy cats, smoking caterpillars and a man in a hat.

This Alice, I wondered what she was like. She didn't look any older then 21. I smiled when a second photo of her caught my attention. It must have been taken in the winter, from the way she was bundled up in winter wear. She wasn't alone in this photo though, she was she was with a huge tower; and this tower had arms and legs. Of course he wasn't a real tower, but compared to Alice in the picture he might well have been. He was big, or I guess burly would be the right phrasing. He was muscled like a serious weight lifter and his hair was dark and curly. Very Handsome though. I wondered if this was her boyfriend or something.

I frowned,"she's too cute for him..." I murmured, before I walked a full circle around the room. I noticed that the wall on the left was shelved with books, and art supplies. Beside that was CD case, filled from top to bottom, but on top of that was a flute along with a violin.

"A musician?" I wondered lightly. Alice. Sounds like an Musicians name, an artist too if you stopped to look at the paintings. Beautiful paintings really. Wonder how much we could get if we sold a painting or two. Not that we would. It just a thought. The thing I noticed though, was that unlike the first two rooms this one not only had a sofa; which looked fairly new; there was a bed. Idly I glanced over at it, curious as to why this room was so special to have one when the first two didn't. I guess it didn't really matter. I wouldn't have time to figure it out anyway. It was inviting though, it really was. It was probably big enough to hold three people. I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept in one, at least for an entire night. It was probably soft, warm, and defiantly comfortable.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore; I plopped down on top of it and I moaned. It was like laying on a cloud, or at least what I had hope and relatively thought a cloud would felt like. I laid silent for a moment, breathing in and then out as I soaked in the floral, honey-sweet scent of the sheets around me. It was familiar. The smell of honey reminded me of the perfumes Alison wore. And the thought of her, made my heartache. I rolled over so that I was looking up at the ceiling, and sighed quietly to myself.

"I don't know what to do anymore." I murmured.

'_**do you want to talk about it, bella?' Asked inner voice me. **_

"Sure, it's not like I have anything better to do then talk to myself."

'_**You make it sound like waiting out a storm…' **_

"Yeah well… what's the difference. What am I going to do? We've been at this for months. I don't know how much more Lillianne can take.

'_**What about us?' **_

"I couldn't give a rats ass what happened to us. James can have me, if it means Lillianne was out of his clutches. If it meant she would never have to go another day having to listen his mocking laughter, then damn it I'll marry the fucker." I growled, letting my eyes wander around the room as I pondered that thought. There wasn't anything to debate about it when it came to that. I would give myself to James willing if it meant she would be safe. If It meant she would never again– I shook my head. I any case, if something like that ever came up, there wasn't a doubt I'd give myself willing.

I frowned with that depressing thought in mind, and closed my eyes. I didn't want to think about that right now. The only thing I wanted to think about was how comfortable I felt.

'_**Now's not the time for comfort.'**_

"Yeah I know," I mumbled before I reluctantly rolled back to my feet, and I moved toward the closet. Alice looks small, but maybe there was something inside her closet that we could make fit.

I could hope right?

Just as I reached the closet, I heard Lillianne scream from where I'd left her in the kitchen. It had been a familiar and frightened scream. In a panic I sprinted from the room and down the stairs. I'd been lucky to have made it down the steps in one piece, though not so lucky when I'd clumsily stumbled over the rug as I'd continued into the Kitchen. I slipped and fell face first into the tiled floor with loud a thud. I tried my best to ignore the pain as I'd landed on the arm James had broke less then a week ago and stood.

That's when a sweet scent filled my nose. I felt my body tense as I'd turned and came face to face with a woman. An exceptionally and astonishingly beautiful woman. She could have been a supermodel! Oh god, we'd stumbled into the home of a super model, and not just any kind. The kind you found on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit magazines, the kind that made every girl around her a jealous just by being in the same room as her, but were still a little obsessed with being like her. She was the kind of woman you would see in those magazines your little brother tries to hide under his mattress. She was gorgeous, tall and statuesque, with an elegant figure. It was no doubt it was her room I was in when I'd found all those beautiful clothing. Who else could wear them? Her hair was beautiful, long and wavy, blond. It must have reached halfway down to the middle of her back. Then there were her long, slender and gorgeous legs, I must be a leg person, I loved long legs, Sheridan, Alison and Shianne have long legs too. The three of them aren't as pale as this wom-"

I gasped.

**'_Pale skin?'_**

I blinked.

**'_pale skin and astonishingly beautiful?'_**

I gasped again. My eyes widened and I took a step backwards.

'_There are more of theses monsters here?!' _I must of said it out loud because she snarled. Her eyes narrowed into a glare and locked onto my backpack, which I no doubt stuffed clumsily with clothing and then she growled.

It had been the most inhumane sound I had ever heard.

"Oh my god!" Lillianne tremble behind me. "She's going to kill us. James is here." she whimpered. I swallowed, taking another step back.

"Bitch…" she growled.

"Rosalie?" I heard the door open, and all I could think about was how the calm the other voice had sounded, until another woman entered the kitchen. She was as a beautiful as the first. She'd had long, wavy caramel colored hair and a heart shaped face. She smiled, not the; 'I'm going to hack you to pieces because I'm an mentally ill bitch kind' of smile, but a motherly vibe type of smile. She'd even had dimples. And then she said, "Are you alright sweetheart?"

I couldn't believe it, a vampire was asking me if I was alright? It was a joke. Some sick twisted joke.

"What do you mean are they alright Esme!? They're robbing us!" The blond screeched. For someone who had such a alluring voice it easily sounded like nails on a chalk board. "You bitch, what did you take out of my room?!" she took several steps forward, with a demeanor much like a boxers and it had been Lillianne's frightened squeak that brought me back to the reality of the situation. I'd grabbed her by hand and attempted to run back the way we'd entered, but I some how managed to cross my legs and tripped. Worst I pushed Lillianne down with me. I'd fallen right on top of her. Her head the ground with a loud sickening crack.

To my horror she'd just laid there.

"Lilli…?" I spoke so softly I wasn't sure I really said it. "Oh god, please," carefully I cradled her head, and as I pressed a hand to the back of it I felt something wet. I paled. "No. no, no, no." I murmured, panicked. Shit. Blood plus two vampires in a single room was not good.

The second vampire leaned over to the first and mumbled something, I couldn't hear, but I could see her lips moving. What ever she'd said the blonde tried arguing with but eventually, with one final glare at me, she blurred out of the room. I could only assume who it was she going to get.

James. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have thought that vampires only existed in phoenix? Cloudy skies, cold weather, Forks was the perfect place for them. James and Victoria knew we were here. They said that their had been others, this must have been what they meant. It was over. They'd caught us again. I rubbed Lillianne's cheek with my thumb before I leaned in and kissed her softly. Then I pulled into me and curled my arms around her, protectively. I'd done this before, when Victoria had broken her past her limit. Of course it never really worked, but I still tried.

"Stay back!" I shouted, hoping that the fear didn't show in voice."Stay the fuck away from us!" The woman seemed surprised. She was staring at me before she looked at Lillianne and I pulled her closer. "She's not a fucking meal!"

"Dear, let me help you." she said, not unkindly, but urgently. She reached over into a drawer and retrieved a towel.

"Help?! You think we want your help? Don't make me laugh! I know what you are! Did you get head start? Are James and Victoria here!" I could feel the tears sting the back of my eyes. She seemed surprised, confused, and if I had to be honest she looked like she was generally cared. Just then Lillianne let out faint murmur, and I'd felt myself let out a relieved sob. I rubbed cheek and I kissed her again. "I won't run anymore, you can take me back to James and Victoria. Just please don't kill her. Please don't do this to her anymore." I pleaded. This…. Woman she looked like she was more reasonable. Maybe, just maybe I could reach out to her. maybe she would take pity on me.

"Sweetheart, no one is going to hurt you, I promise."

I couldn't help but yell, though it came out more as a laugh. "Don't lie to me! I know what you are! Enough playing games! I am tired of being toyed with and I won't let you harm her anymore! I know what you are, I know what you are! The pale skin, Inhumanly beautiful. I know what you are right down to your poisoned filled fangs and red ey-"

I gasped cutting myself short when she was suddenly kneeling in front of me. She pressed the towel under Lilliannes head and held my gaze at the same time. When I'd saw her, I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped. Her eyes were golden. Not red, but golden.

"Golden eyes?" I panted. I felt dizzy."Your eyes, aren't red…" I whispered. She smiled just slightly.

"My eyes aren't red," she repeated. "And you're in no danger here. My husband can help you and your sister. Bella…" she whispered.

"How… do you know my name…" I mumbled. She said something else, but it was disoriented, because the world around me faded and dissolved.

* * *

><p><strong>End of this chapter! It's not long I know and I apologize but with writers block it was actually difficult to write this as long as I wanted and it's been so long since I posted anything. I thought why not? Shame on all of you who may have thought I wasn't going to continue! Haha, as if I dared. <strong>

**Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed this chapter, I apologize for the wait and please excuse any errors I know I probably made. (I was somewhat without a beta on part of it. Not her fault everyone is terribly busy)**

**Please Rate and Review. Leave a comment. Or just say hello~ I don't bite and I will see you soon**.

**Posted: 6/11/2014**


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